2026 Garden Progress

Pugster Butterfly Bushes

Buddleia 'Pugster' series
Cut-back spring framework turned into dense summer foliage and full purple bloom.
spring wake-up shrub 10 photos
Purple Pugster butterfly bush blooming below a dwarf peach canopy in a brick-edged raised bed
July 26, 2026

Purple layer below the peach

Pugster is still carrying a bright purple flower layer at the front of the bed, even under the dwarf peach's full green canopy.

Season notes
Fresh open spikes and more buds keep the shrub useful well into late July, while the compact habit keeps the brick path visible.
Pugster butterfly bush in heavy purple bloom below grapevine leaves and green grape clusters on a white lattice
July 3, 2026

Heavy July bloom

The Pugster is carrying a big July flush, with purple flower cones opening across the whole shrub and darker buds still lined up behind them.

Season notes
This wider view shows how much mass the shrub has built since mid-June. The blooms now fill the front of the raised bed while the grapevine and Gold Dust aucuba make a dense summer backdrop.
Pugster butterfly bush flower spike in full purple bloom
June 18, 2026

Full purple bloom

The Pugster has opened into dense purple cones, with fresh buds still stacked toward the tips and glossy summer leaves underneath.

Season notes
This is the first real summer bloom record for the shrub: the May bud clusters have turned into full color, and the plant still has plenty of unopened flowers to keep the show going.
Pugster butterfly bush blooming purple below a leafy dwarf peach and near orange milkweed
June 18, 2026

Raised bed summer mass

The raised bed is packed now: Pugster purple in front, the dwarf peach casting a leafy canopy above, and orange milkweed glowing behind it.

Season notes
The shrub has moved from spring recovery to full summer presence. It is holding the lower purple layer while the peach and milkweed give the same bed height and hot color.
Pugster butterfly bush in front of Orange Rocket barberry
May 31, 2026

Front planter with barberry

The Pugster has become a full green mound in the front planter, with flower buds forming and Orange Rocket barberry giving it a hot red backdrop.

Season notes
This is the cleanest front-planter view of the shrub's late-May mass: healthy foliage, visible bud clusters, and enough contrast behind it to make the green read sharply.
Pugster butterfly bush beside budding milkweed and sedum
May 25, 2026

Layered with milkweed buds

The Pugster foliage has bulked up into a dense green mass, with the neighboring milkweed in bud and sedum carrying the front edge.

Season notes
This is the bed shifting from spring structure into early-summer fullness: the butterfly bush is broad and leafy, while the milkweed is about to take over the orange bloom moment.
Pugster butterfly bushes filling a raised bed with companion perennials
May 14, 2026

Raised bed filling in

The Pugsters have turned the corner from spring recovery into full green mound mode, with the middle of the bed starting to knit together around them.

Season notes
The shrubs on both sides are dense and healthy now, the cut-back winter framework mostly hidden by new foliage. The bright upright perennial growth through the back gives the bed a strong second layer while the center still has room to fill.
First new growth
April 14, 2026

First new growth

Fresh green pushing back in around the cut-back woody framework.

Season notes
Pugsters get cut back hard in late winter and look rough for a few weeks, then explode with new growth.
Filling in
April 21, 2026

Filling in

The new growth spreading, starting to obscure the cut-back framework.

Looking established
April 27, 2026

Looking established

The butterfly bush looking like a proper plant again, full spring push underway.