Back

'Miss Violet' Butterfly Bush

Buddleja 'Miss Violet'

Flower
Foliage
'Miss Violet' Butterfly Bush

Miss Violet offers the deep purple-violet end of the butterfly bush spectrum in a compact, well-mannered package: fragrant 7-inch panicles over grayish-green foliage, blooming from summer into fall, with sterility built in to keep it from spreading beyond its welcome.

A hybrid of Buddleja 'Miss Molly' and Buddleja 'Blue Chip', 'Miss Violet' was developed by Dr. Dennis Werner at North Carolina State University and is protected by Plant Patent PP28448. It grows 4 to 5 feet tall and equally wide, with a compact, semi-upright branching habit and dense foliage that is grayish-green on the upper leaf surface and white-felted with short hairs on the underside. The flowers are small, tubular, deeply fragrant, and packed into panicles reaching 7 inches long — considerable for a plant of this scale. Their color sits in the rich purple-violet range that the species handles particularly well. Both the male flower parts and the female portion have reduced function, resulting in very little seed set, which addresses the invasive-spread concerns that have historically complicated planting recommendations for the genus.

'Miss Violet' performs best in full sun with well-drained soil; clay soils should be amended with compost and the crown planted slightly proud of the soil surface to ensure water moves away from the roots. It is reliably cold-hardy in zones 5 through 9 but may die back to ground level in the colder end of that range, returning from the crown each spring. In warmer zones where top growth survives winter, a spring prune shapes the plant and improves flowering, since blooms develop on new wood. It suits cottage gardens, pollinator plantings, and formal borders alike, and can also be grown in containers with more frequent watering.

|
Zone5 - 9
TypeShrub
FoliageDeciduous
GrowthFast
Height4 - 5 ft
Spread3 - 6 ft
BloomFall
MaintenanceLow
SunFull sun
SoilClay
DrainageGood drainage
FormDense
TextureMedium
DesignAccent
FamilyScrophulariaceae
LocationsContainer
Garden themesButterfly Garden
AttractsBees
Resistant toDeer
Palettes