Update: My Buddleia davidii has since been shovel pruned. I kept getting severe ifestations of Two Spotted Spider Mites. I tried to control them with a jet of water, but that didn't work. I tried to control them with foliar insecticide, but that didn't work either. The second year was more of the same, but the spider mites began to spread to other plants in my yard. That was when I shovel pruned the butterfly bushes. The spider mites are gone from my yard now and I'm still not sure why the Buddleia davidii in my yard had such a problem.

Not only have I never seen Buddleia reseeding around waste places/roadsides in this area, I can't even get it to survive in my garden, so I don't see invasiveness as an issue locally. I am highly dubious about the proposition that non-native plants supply no nourishment to native insect/animal species. Clearly chickadees and lots of other birds/animals have adapted to using these plants. There was an article in the Sunday New York Times last week from a garden writer emphasizing this (and recommending that people plant a wide variety of native and non-native plants to nourish the local wildlife)*. *this writer's recommendations probably should be taken with a grain of salt, seeing as how his article was primarily about gardening with climate change (he seems to think that a single colder than normal winter is good evidence of climate change, which actually is documented not by single seasonal variation but changes occurring over many years). Here is a link that might be useful: gardening for climate change This post was edited by eric_oh on Sat, May 10, 14 at 11:14

bdriver71, i know a bit about ecology so i can answer your question. Bad for butteflies Where Butterfly bush has been proven to be very weedy in moist mild climates such is Ireland and is beginning to be felt more in the PNW, and possibly along the midatlantic coast. For the rest of the country it is not likely a threat. Here is proof right here- http://www.nwcb.wa.gov/weed_info/buddleja_davidii.htm Butterfly bush is a Class B Noxious Weed in Oregon, is one of the top twenty weeds in Great Britain, and is a serious problem in New Zealand. _________________ Why 1 ) Butterfly bush can be bad for butterflies by displacing the host plant. It forms dense thickets, especially along river banks and river gravel bars, which crowd out native vegetation and may alter soil nutrient concentrations. A dense growth of BB in waste areas can crowd out host plants. Nectar, while important, is not as vital as a larva host plant. If a host plant is out competed by a weedy butterfly bush, it then harms, not helps. 2) Some recent papers in botany journals (not conservation journals) shows that butterfly bush is a superior competitor for pollinators - thatÂs why we grow it right? In wild areas, seed set of native plants was severely reduced as they were out-competed for pollinators. Seed set is a measure of fitness, and lower seed set means serious problems for plants, because the seeds are the next generation. ___________ "Well I have not seen it" - probably not, in most of the country it seems not to be a problem. Deadheading would be all that is needed. But the just because you have or have not seen it means nothing, scientifically. Ever seen how weight-loss commercials all have people on them claiming "I lost 10 pounds in 6 seconds blah blah blah" Personal testimony is not a substitute for science. Its convincing but it holds no real weight (pardon the pun) and thatÂs why diet infomercials use that because its convincing and they can avoid real things like facts and science. Because yeh, they may have lost 10 pounds in 6 seconds, but is that typical? What if only 1 in 10 had weight loss? Pick 50 people and there are the 5 cases for your infomercial. My point is, firsthand accounts cannot be assumed to be an accurate portrayal. I know the person across the street has some invasives but I have not seen their offspring around my area. Does that mean they cant and therefore wont? Can that same rule be true? What if the house down the street was spawning the weed in the back alley. I havenÂt seen it. If I donÂt see it its not happening, yes? No. All that said, I think a deadheading is all that is needed, and I admit I have a bush myself. Its not a problem in my area. It only seems to be a problem in very moist, moderate climates like Ireland, new Zealand and the PNW. Outside of those areas and perhaps the midatlantic, i do not foresee a problem

hi folks, I hope I'm not sticking my foot into a bear trap here but there really is some basis to NOT planting a whole lot of butterfly bushes. First let me say a few things. I have a BF bush, I took cuttings last year and hope to have a few more this year... also I have seen them reseed here in PA but only a few and only when the seeds fell on bare ground (even though on a trip to WA/OR I saw them growing thick along the highways as a weed). So I guess I feel safe growing them here and will most likely always have a few in my garden (and I deadhead for more blooms, not because I'm worried about the seeds). I think the point for not growing too many is based on something that I would guess almost everyone on this forum already knows. When you grow BF bushes you are attracting them to your yard but you are not really giving them a home. In order to give them a home they need host plants to lay their eggs on. Here's something from "Bringing Wildlife Home" by Dr. Tallamy from the U of Delaware: "...not one species of butterfly in N. America can use buddleias as larval host plants. To have butterflies, we need to make butterflies.... Instead of building a butterfly garden with aliens (plants) that will make no new butterflies, use native species that serve as hosts for butterfly larvae as well as a supply of nectar for adults." He also goes on to recommend buttonbush, "butterflies fight to gain access to its nectar, and it serves as a host plant for 18 species of Lepidoptera in my neck of the woods" (Eastern Pa I think) So I guess I'm planting BF bush in order to SEE more butterflies..... I'm planting milkweed and violets and wild cherry so that there will BE more butterflies..... and I think I want to add a buttonbush.