Tag Archives: Buddleja davidii

Buddleja davidii

One of the few plants in my garden which isn’t edible is my large Buddleja davidii (butterfly bush / sommerfuglbusk), a wonderful entomental (loved by insects and an ornamental appreciated by Homo sapiens too!). It is strategically placed beneath the balcony so that I can look down from above. As chance has it, I had also planted old man’s beard / tysk klematis (Clematis vitalba) to climb up onto the balcony. The latter is equally popular with late summer pollinators, mainly hoverflies. So this is one of the best spots for watching and photographing the local insect life. However, after coming into flower 2-3 weeks ago there were no butterflies, but a rare 20C day brought them out and both painted lady (tistelsommerfugl; the first since the bumper year two years ago and only the second recorded this summer in Trøndelag county), red admiral (admiral) and comma / hvit C were out yesterday! But it’s at night that the butterfly bush is covered with pollinators, notably an estimated 200 large yellow underwing moths (hagebåndfly) 

Dystaenia heaven

Along with many members of the Apiaceae (carrot family / umbellifers) the flowers of Dystaenia takesimana (Giant Ulleung Celery) are heaven for pollinators like hoverflies (blomsterfluer).
These great edi-ento-mentals thrive both in sunny conditions and in the complete shade of this Buddleja davidii (butterfly bush / sommerfuglbusk).
For more on this great multi-purpose plant, see https://www.edimentals.com/blog/?p=24998

Unusual Pollinators

A dark green fritillary (aglaya perlemorvinge) and my second red-tailed bumlebee (steinhumle) on my Buddleja and Clematis vitalba (old man’s beard….not me!)



Peak butterflies

There are record numbers of butterflies in the garden at the moment, crowding on the last Buddleja flowers. A few days ago, I counted 35 butterflies, about equal numbers of painted ladies (tistelsommerfugl) and red admirals (admiral) with a few small tortoiseshells (neslesommerfugl) as well as a lot of silver y moths (gammafly). All are seen in this video taken from my balcony which overlooks the largest Buddleja.

Butterfly prefers onion to butterfly bush!

The warmth has encouraged the Buddleja (Butterfly bush / Sommerfuglbusk) into flower, but this small tortoiseshell (neslesommerfugl) still prefers Alliums!
Buddleja isn’t edible, but it is one of the best entomentals (insects love them and so do we; it would be an edi-ento-mental if it had also been edible!)

Birds in the garden this week

Sitting quietly working in the garden and there’s always something new that happens…see here!