It's a fragrant favourite and butterflies love it, says NIGEL COLBORN. So why has the Government got it in for the buddleia?
Also known as the ‘Butterfly Bush’ because its nectar attracts so many insects, you can see it flourishing in parks and gardens all over the country.
But perhaps it is flourishing a little too well, for the plant has just been given a black mark by the Government.
Officials at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) consider buddleia an ‘invasive alien’. What a pejorative term for such a beneficial plant. The phrase conjures up man-eating space monsters or foreign tanks roaring up our beaches.
