Butterfly bushes are evil and invasive.
That's why I plant Butterflyweed.
As I mentioned above, I never knew this. I just read an article from Rodale Organic Life that talked about how butterfly bushes are not only invasive, they also are bad for 2 other reasons:
1. Butterfly Bush Doesn't Really Benefit Butterflies. When it's the only plant you grow for butterflies, you're not going to have butterflies anymore. What butterflies are desperately in need of are proper host plants so they can reproduce, and their larval offspring can feed on host plant leaves. Better choices for butterflies would be: butterfly weed, dandelion, red clover, goldenrod, poison ivy, jerusalem artichoke, milk weed, queen anne's lace, thistle, joe-pye weed, and oak trees.
2. Butterfly Bush Is Contributing To The Collapse Of Food Webs. Planting nonnative plants, like butterfly bush, in your yard is actually making it harder for the butterflies and birds in your neighborhood to survive. For instance, if you want chickadees to breed in your yard, you need plants that will produce to support the 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars the birds need during the 16 days when they are feeding their young.
One-third of plants in North America aren't actually native to North America. Eighty percent of plants in our yards aren't native. This is creating non-native ecosystems that are not supporting food webs and therefore not supporting bio-diversity.
This chart from Prairie Nursery
