Long arching compact sprays hold tightly packed, deeply fragrant, yellow-eyed, pure white flowers. Most attractive to all pollinating insects, but especially butterflies, the more common blue form was only discovered in the late nineteenth century in central China where it is native to Sichuan and Hubei provinces. Jean-André Soulié, a botanist-missionary, sent seed to the French nursery Vilmorin, and B. davidii entered commerce in the 1890s. It was named for the Basque missionary and explorer in China, Father Armand David, who first noticed the shrub. ... Learn More

The "African Butterfly Bush" or "Mountain sage" is a splendid dwarf shrub from the high mountains of Southern Africa where it grows usually above 6,000 feet. Sweetly-scented, creamy-white or sulphur-coloured, orange-centred flowers appear in midsummer and attract many flying insects including bees and butterflies, whilst the wrinkly, narrow leaves are covered in attractive rusty brown hairs. It makes a superb standard in our African garden at Plant World where it survives arctic winters well on a bitterly cold East-facing slope. ... Learn More