Never Grow Butterfly Bush in Your Garden—5 Non-Invasive Plants You Should Grow Instead

Native plants like asters and zinnias are equally attractive to butterflies and other pollinators.

If planting a butterfly bush, choose a sterile, non-invasive cultivar.

Once the Asian native butterfly bush was introduced to American gardens in the early 1900s, it quickly became a favorite with pink, purple, and white blooms that draw butterflies to feed throughout the summer. Unfortunately, gardeners were unaware of the plant's potential problems.

Learn why you should never plant a butterfly bush and what you can plant instead to bring butterflies to your garden.

The butterfly bush, especially the most popular cultivar, Buddleja davidii, seems like an ideal plant for the garden. But because the seeds have a high germination rate and can remain viable in the soil for three to five years, butterfly bushes become invasive and strangle out native plants.

If you're married to the idea of butterfly bush, consider planting the Lo and Behold® variety developed by researchers at N.C. State University. These lower-growing, sterile shrubs produce nectar but no pollen and few to no seeds.

Some states have banned the sale of butterfly bushes, and more than 20 states have listed them as invasive and a threat.

Each tiny bloom produces a capsule containing multiple small seeds. There are as many as 40,000 seeds on a single panicle of the butterfly bush flowers. The seeds are winged and lightweight, and travel far by wind or water.

There are, of course, many flowers that attract butterflies. Here are five plants with spectacular flowers to add to your garden.

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The bright yellow blooms of this perennial goldenrod attract late summer butterflies, especially monarchs that need fuel for their southern migration.

The bright blooms of easy-to-grow annual zinnias attract butterflies who feed on the nectar throughout the summer.

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Lantana is considered a perennial in warmer growing zones, but makes a lovely summer hanging basket plant in cooler areas. All types of butterflies are drawn to the bright blooms.

Water: Water often, do not allow it to dry out

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Another easy-to-grow plant that can be started from seed and bloom within 8 weeks, cosmos is a garden favorite that blooms all summer long until the first frost.

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There are more than two dozen aster varieties that will bring butterflies to your garden. Late summer and early fall bloomers, you can find white, pink, blue, or purple asters that are perfect for your flower beds.

These plants have similarly shaped blooms as a butterfly bush but are not invasive. The pollinators in your garden will appreciate them just as much.

Native to eastern North American woodlands, Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) is a deciduous shrub with bottlebrush-shaped, white blooms from late spring to mid-summer that attract butterflies and fabulous autumn leaf color.

Lilacs attract us with their scent and spring butterflies with their nectar-filled blooms. The shrub grows quickly and can become a small tree. Choose 'Miss Kim', a popular dwarf lilac cultivar, for your flower beds.

With a sweet honey fragrance, you'll see plenty of bees and butterflies around this shrub (Fothergilla gardenii). Native to the southeastern United States, the shrub is multi-stemmed, slow-growing, and long-lived.

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Mimicking the bloom time of a butterfly bush, the shrub summersweet (Clethra alnifolia) blooms in July and August. Living up to its name, the pink or white flowers have a sweet fragrance and attract butterflies and other pollinators.