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Buddleja alternifolia
Also called Alternate Leaved Butterfly Bush, Alternate Leaf Butterfly Bush, Fountain Butterfly Bush
Fountain butterflybush is a vigorous, deciduous shrub that grows 4 to 5 m tall with arching stems and lilac flowers in early summer. It needs a sunny spot and well-drained loamy soil, and it is hardy in cold climates.
Buddleja alternifolia, known as alternate-leaved butterfly-bush, is a species of flowering plant in the figwort family, which is endemic to Gansu, China. A substantial deciduous shrub growing to 4 metres (13 ft) tall and wide, it bears grey-green leaves and graceful pendent racemes of scented lilac flowers in summer.
In the West this plant was first described and named by the Russian botanist Carl Maximowicz in 1880. It was not introduced to cultivation in the West until 1915, by Purdom and Farrer.
The species has become very common in cultivation, a popular shrub for the larger garden, and is readily available from most garden centres in the UK. Fully hardy, it prefers a sunny position and loamy soil; pruning should immediately follow flowering. Like most buddlejas, the species is easily propagated from cuttings. Hardiness: RHS H5, USDA zones 7 – 9.
Dogtail · Buddleja cordata · Butterfly-bush · Buddleja dysophylla · Buddleja fallowiana var. alba · Buddleja fallowiana · Orange-ball-tree · Smokebush · Pole butterflybush · Squarestem butterflybush · Butterfly Bush
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Buddleja alternifolia by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
