Buddleia ‘Golden Glow’

Buddleia 'Golden Glow' (Buddleja x weyeriana 'Golden Glow') trades the usual purple butterfly bush spikes for something warmer: rounded clusters of apricot gold flowers, sweetly scented and carried right through the warm months. It is a fast growing shrub to about 2.5m tall and 2m wide, and it earns the common name daily, pulling butterflies, bees and nectar feeding birds into the garden.

Why you'll love it

• A colour most gardens have never seen. Apricot gold flower balls instead of the familiar purple cones, and they keep coming for months.
• The butterfly bush reputation, earned. Butterflies and bees work it all day, and honeyeaters drop in behind them.
• Fast to fill a gap. It reaches its full size within a couple of seasons, so a new border stops looking new very quickly.
• Unfussy about conditions. Frost hardy, drought tolerant, heat tolerant and content in poor soil once its roots are down.
• Sweetly fragrant. The scent carries on warm afternoons, strongest close to the flowers.

Where it works best

Feature planting. Use it as the mid border anchor in a sunny bed, allowing 2m of width for it to arch naturally over lower plants in front.

Mass planting and borders. Planted 1.5m apart, a row builds into a continuous band of gold through summer, useful along a fence or the back of a deep border.

Pots and containers. A 500mm tub suits it, with the annual hard prune keeping the shrub in scale with the pot.

Growing Buddleia 'Golden Glow' in Australia

Position and climate. Full sun for the most flowers. It performs in subtropical, warm temperate, cool temperate and Mediterranean climates, and being frost hardy it takes cold inland winters in its stride.

Soil. Any soil that drains, including poor and stony ground. There is no need to enrich the bed; reasonable soil and a mulch are enough.

Water and feed. Water deeply through the first summer, then only through long dry spells. A light feed in spring is plenty; heavy feeding grows leaves at the expense of flowers.

Pruning. Prune hard in late winter, cutting the whole shrub back by about two thirds. Flowers form on the new season's growth, so the hard cut produces a compact plant and a bigger show. Deadhead through summer to keep the flushes coming and to limit self seeding.

What to expect when it arrives

We sell Golden Glow as tube stock, and it is a plant where starting small makes sense. Tubes establish quickly, grow away hard in their first spring, and build into a flowering shrub by their second season. Expect a modest looking plant on arrival and rapid progress once it is in warm ground.

Plants are delivered Australia wide, with delivery from $29.95. Every plant is covered by our 30 day healthy plant guarantee.

Plant care guides and related reading

• Browse more flowering plants
• Fragrant plants for every part of the garden
• Drought tolerant plants for waterwise beds
• Planting tips for a healthy start

Common questions

How hard should I prune it?

Harder than feels polite: back by about two thirds in late winter. It flowers on new growth, so the plants you see smothered in bloom are the ones cut hard every year. Skip the prune and it grows leggy with fewer flowers.

Will it self seed into bushland?

It can self seed lightly. Deadheading spent clusters before they dry prevents most of it, and the late winter prune removes the rest. As with any buddleia, keep it away from bushland boundaries as good practice.

When does it flower?

Through the warm months, typically from early summer into autumn. Regular deadheading extends the run noticeably.

Is it worth buying as a tube?

Yes, this is one of the best value tube plants we grow because of its speed. A tube planted in spring is a real shrub by the following summer, flowering as it builds.

Does frost knock it back?

No, it is frost hardy across its range. Any weather worn growth from a hard winter disappears with the late winter prune, which you were doing anyway.