Butterfly Bushes add vivid color to your garden, with showy blooms that can continue sprouting throughout the summer. But are they strictly outdoor decorations, or will those lovely flowers also look good in a vase, wreath, or frame? Actually, Buddleia blooms make fantastic additions to arrangements of all kinds. With the right inspiration, you can find countless fantastic uses for cut or dried Butterfly Bush flowers.
Cut or dried Butterfly Bush flowers look lovely by themselves or as part of a more elaborate arrangement. With their large panicles and long stems, they make great focal pieces. Harvest the flower spikes when the lower blossoms are first opening. Pop fresh-cut blooms in lukewarm water or hang them to dry in a warm, open space.
Buddleia blooms aren’t the longest-lasting cut flowers. However, you can often extend their lifespan by getting them hydrated right away and using some cut flower food. Mix them with other colorful blooms for a dazzling display, or let the Butterfly Bush be the star of the show by accenting them with greenery and subtly-colored flowers. The possible combinations are endless, but we’ll give you lots of ideas to help you get your creative cauldron bubbling.
Are Butterfly Bush Flowers Good for Arrangements?
We already hinted at the answer above, but it’s worth explaining why Butterfly Bushes are such superb plants for anyone who likes to decorate with cut flowers. This shrub has several qualities that make it an excellent source of bouquet ingredients.
First of all, it produces lots of brightly colored flowers. The blooming period of a Buddleia typically begins in the middle of summer (though it may be earlier in warm climates) and continues into the heart of autumn. And trimming this shrub to get cut or dried Butterfly Bush flowers tends to trigger even more bloom production.
Butterfly Bush flowers also grow in huge, cone-shaped bunches called panicles. What looks from a distance like an individual bloom is actually a mass of tiny florets. This arrangement gives the flower spikes an interesting textured appearance. It also means that despite its size, the flower head is lightweight, so it should stay upright in vertical arrangements.
The combination of long stems and large masses of flowers makes cut or dried Butterfly Bush flowers useful for creating showy floral arrangements. They can add bulk to a large bouquet and act as a nice backdrop for contrasting colors. Or they can command the spotlight when used alongside less dramatic blooms.
The one drawback of using Buddleias as cut flowers is that they don’t tend to last very long — their typical lifespan is only four to five days. You can often increase it by conditioning them properly, though (see below).
Butterfly Bush flowers are easy to dry if you want to preserve them even longer. Unlike some especially delicate blooms, they’re easy to air-dry by hanging them in bunches. And the process only seems to amplify their sweet, honey-like fragrance.
How to Cut Fresh Butterfly Bush Flowers for Arrangements
Collecting your Butterfly Bush blooms properly can go a long way toward helping them last as long as possible. Here’s how to get the longest vase life out of your flowers.
Step 1: Prepare Your Equipment
Put together a few basic supplies before you get started. You’ll need:
- Pruning tools. Use handheld bypass pruners, which will help you make a clean cut instead of mangling the end and leaving it susceptible to bacterial colonization.
- Flower preservative. Flower preservatives contain a few ingredients that help your blooms last longer in the water. The basic elements are sugars, weak acids, and mild antimicrobial agents. Commercial “flower food” tends to be the most effective. You can also prepare your own by mixing a half-teaspoon of bleach, two tablespoons of white vinegar, and two tablespoons of sugar into a quart of warm water.
- A bucket. When you’re collecting the flower, you’ll need to get them hydrated as soon as possible. The simplest way to do that is to carry a bucket of water with you as you harvest. (You can skip the water if you’re going to dry your Buddleia blooms.)
- Disinfectant. It’s a good idea to sanitize the blades of your pruners before you clip the flowers. This helps avoid introducing bacteria or fungal spores into the cuts you’re making on your plant.
- A sharp knife. This will be helpful during the conditioning stage (see below).
Step 2: Gather Flowers From Your Butterfly Bush
Timing your trimming properly will help you get the longest lifespan from cut flowers. Collect the flowers in the morning, before sunrise, if possible. This helps ensure that none of the moisture has evaporated from the stems yet.
You’ll also want to cut your Butterfly Bush blooms at the right point in their life cycle. The best time to trim is before most of the individual florets have opened. The lowermost flowers unfurl before those at the tip, so it’s best to cut when only the bottom ¼-⅓ of the flower spike is blooming. The first wave of blossoms tends to happen in mid-summer, though this depends on your climate.
It’s often best to take flowers in an even distribution around the shrub so that you don’t leave it looking lopsided. However, if it has a “back side” that’s mostly out of view, you can harvest more heavily from there.
Cut a decent length off of the stems, at least two to three times the length of the flower head itself. You can always shorten them later, but it’s good to give yourself plenty to work with in case you want to make a large arrangement.
Make each cut right above one of the nodes where a new pair of leaves is emerging. You may even see some spots where small, underdeveloped flower buds are forming. Cutting down to just past those nodes will encourage them to grow into full-sized blooms.
Snip at a 45-degree angle, maximizing the amount of surface area for water absorption. Dunk the cut ends into the bucket of water.
Step 3: Condition Your Blooms
After you’ve collected all the Butterfly Bush blooms you need, it’s time to condition them. Conditioning is a simple but vital process for delaying the wilting of cut flowers.
Bring the stems you’ve harvested inside and trim the leaves off the lower portions. You want to get rid of any foliage that will be underwater when you place your Butterfly Bush flowers in a vase. Submerged leaves will rot and encourage fungi and bacteria to build up.
Since Buddleias tend to have woody stems, you should also make a short vertical cut in each stem. Start at the bottom, placing your knife in the center of the stalk so that your cut will split the stem in half. Then slice upward about ½-1 inch.
Mix a bit of your flower preservative into a vase of lukewarm water (or just reuse your bucket).
A commercial formula should have instructions on the packet explaining how much to dilute it. If you’re making your own, you can use the ratio listed in Step 1 and place your blooms directly into the mixture.
Leave your flowers in a cool, dark place for at least a few hours. If you can let them sit overnight, that’s even better. This will give them time to soak up the preservative. Once this step is finished, your Butterfly Bush flowers are ready for arranging.
How to Make Dried Butterfly Bush Flowers
If you’re planning to dry your Buddleia blossoms, you can skip most of the steps above. There’s no need to worry about helping your flowers stay hydrated. However, it’s still a good idea to sanitize your trimmers so you don’t accidentally infect your Butterfly Bush.
Gather your flowers when they’re in full bloom. The best time to harvest is when conditions are sunny, and there’s no morning dew left on the flower heads. Remove all of the leaves before drying — only the blooms should remain.
You have a few options for drying your flowers:
Air-Drying
Tie your Butterfly Bush flowers into bunches using twine or rubber bands and hang them upside-down. It’s best to pick a warm area that has good ventilation but isn’t exposed to direct sunlight. Attics or barns are popular choices, though a closet or a rarely-used room can also work in a pinch.
Position your flowers so that they’re dangling in the air, not lying flat against a wall. Tying them to coat hangers and positioning them along a closet bar is a good way to achieve this. Leave them in place for at least two to four weeks until the petals are dry and crispy.
Desiccant Gel
A faster method is to immerse your Butterfly Bush flowers in silica gel crystals, which will soak up moisture and rapidly dry the blooms. Fill a large plastic storage bin with these desiccant beads and gently bury your cuttings. Make sure they’re fully covered, then lock the lid and store it away from direct light. It can take anywhere from two days to a week for the blooms to fully dry.
Pressing
Pressing flowers can take as long as air-drying them, but it’s the best way to go if you want to use them in a book or frame them behind glass. Sandwich your Butterfly Bush flowers between two sheets of wax paper or parchment paper, then set something heavy on top. Leave it someplace warm and dark where the air isn’t moist.
Check your progress in a week or so. If the flowers aren’t fully dry, swap out the sheets of paper for fresh ones and replace the weight. You’ll probably need to do this at least two or three times before your Buddleia blossoms are ready to go.
Arranging With Cut or Dried Butterfly Bush Flowers
Once you’ve got your blooms conditioned or dried, it’s time to figure out how to display them. This is the time to let your creativity shine — but that’s always easier when you have some inspiration as a jumping-off point. We’ve put together a few suggestions for making your Butterfly Bush flowers look incredible.
#1: Simple Elegance
The long stems and pointed flower spikes of a Butterfly Bush lend themselves well to a single-species bouquet. Place a few long stems with full, bushy flower heads in a clear, slender, vertical vase. Mix up the heights just a bit, but leave plenty of green at the bottom.
#2: Splash of Color
Your Butterfly Bush flowers will look especially dramatic when framed against a backdrop of greenery. Vivid pink Buddleias often look fantastic next to blue-green or silver foliage plants like Eucalyptus, Dusty Miller, and Juniper. Purple Butterfly Bush flowers go well with deep green leaves like ferns, Myrtle, or Ruscus.
#3: Babe in the Woods
Use dried Butterfly Bush flowers with other long, woody stems to cradle short, round flowers like dried roses or peonies. Intersperse Buddleia stalks with Willow, Pussywillow, or dried Lilac stalks around the edge of the vase. Then, create a nest of dried ferns and foliage, with a few of the smaller flowers nestled in the center.
#4: Electric Shock
This arrangement plays with the vibrant contrast of purple and yellows or oranges. Cut flowers from a dark-colored Butterfly Bush like Black Knight, Nanho Purple, or Midnight. Intersperse them as vertical spikes in the midst of smaller, lighter purple flowers. Here and there, add sparks of bright orange or yellow with Marigolds, Lilies, Zinnias, or Poppies.
#5: Peaches and Cream
Dried Butterfly Bush flowers often fade to a pale pink or lilac hue. This pairs well with creamy whites like Baby’s Breath, Petunias, Daisies, and Pampas Grass. Play around with different heights to create a pastel-colored cloud.
#6: Floral Profusion
Buddleia flower spikes look great when combined with other flowers that bloom in clusters, such as Hydrangea, Queen Anne’s Lace, Sedum, or Lavender. Arranging some of these varieties together can create a tribute to floral excess, with countless tiny blossoms bursting out in all directions. Combine various shades of white, purple, and lime green for an eye-catching display.
#7: Corona
Try taking advantage of the pointy appearance of cut or dried Butterfly Bush flowers by arranging them in radiating spokes bursting out from the back of a flower arrangement. Add some mid-sized trumpet-shaped flowers pushing out from the middle section. At the front, place flowers with wide, round faces, like Sunflowers, Dahlias, or Camellias. The result will be a riot of colors and shapes.
Final Thoughts
You’ll have more fun coming up with your own ideas than copying any of ours. But hopefully, the suggestions above have sparked some thoughts about how to mess around with hue, texture, shape, and size when arranging cut or dried Butterfly Bush flowers. Don’t be afraid to throw some different things together and see what works! Buddleias bloom like crazy, especially when you trim them, so you should have plenty of raw materials.