Buddleja davidii 'White Profusion' - White Butterfly Bush

A spectacular deciduous butterfly bush that transforms gardens with its magnificent displays of exceptionally large pure white fragrant flower panicles and outstanding wildlife appeal, creating enchanting continuous colour from mid-summer through early autumn when many other plants are finishing their display, perfectly complemented by graceful arching growth and abundant repeat flowering that makes it ideal for large borders, wildlife gardens, specimen planting, and contemporary garden displays where striking pristine beauty meets exceptional butterfly magnetism.

Headlines

• Plant Type: Award-winning hardy deciduous large flowering shrub
• Eventual Height: 3 metres 
• Eventual Spread: 5 metres
• Flowering Period: June to September
• Flower Colour: Pure snow-white with bright yellow centres
• Hardiness: Hardy in the UK down to temperatures of -20 to -15 degrees Celsius (RHS hardiness rating H6)
• Growth Habit: Large, vigorous with gracefully arching branches
• Flower Type: Dense conical panicles up to 35cm long
• Wildlife Value: Outstanding butterfly and pollinator magnet

Overview

Buddleja davidii 'White Profusion' exemplifies extraordinary garden excellence for wildlife enthusiasts and gardeners seeking pristine elegance, producing spectacular displays of exceptionally large pure white flower panicles that create distinguished beauty throughout an extended flowering season. This outstanding award-winning variety transforms garden spaces with its vigorous arching growth that showcases abundant dense panicles of sweetly scented snow-white blooms with bright yellow eyes, where individual flowers feature beautiful pure white petals arranged in magnificent conical clusters reaching up to 35cm in length that create sophisticated visual presence. The pristine white colour palette makes this buddleja particularly impressive for formal gardens, white-themed displays, and elegant landscapes, representing classic garden excellence and wildlife gardening perfection. The flowers repeat without interruption from June to October, creating sustained displays with vigorous regrowth, providing essential nectar sources when butterflies need them most. The rich honey-like fragrance enhances the spectacular visual impact, creating memorable garden experiences that complement both formal landscape designs and wildlife-friendly garden schemes.

Key Features

The outstanding appeal of 'White Profusion' lies in its exceptionally large dense panicles of pure white flowers held magnificently on arching branches, showcasing classic formation with spectacular pristine elegance and impressive architectural presence. Each flower panicle displays beautifully formed conical structure with dense clusters of hundreds of individual blooms, reaching up to 16 inches in length and featuring pure snow-white colour with bright yellow centres in magnificent arrangements that create displays of exceptional beauty and timeless charm. The distinctive pure white colour provides enchanting displays that maintain their sophisticated appeal throughout the extended flowering season, creating spectacular visual richness that symbolises garden elegance and wildlife conservation. The heavy flowering sprays cover the graceful arching stems throughout summer, with this variety considered to be the most powerful butterfly attractor among white buddleias. The rich sweet fragrance complements the pristine visual appeal, creating memorable garden experiences that enhance both large garden applications and wildlife garden enjoyment with classic colour sophistication and luxurious aromatic charm.

Growth Characteristics

The vigorous habit with gracefully arching branches creates an impressive architectural framework, making this variety particularly valuable for larger gardens, specimen planting, and garden applications where substantial flowering coverage and elegant impact are essential. The lance-shaped grey-green leaves with distinctive white-felted undersides are produced abundantly, creating an exceptionally attractive backdrop that perfectly complements the pure white bloom colours whilst maintaining excellent vigour and distinguished appeal. The well-branched arching growth habit of this magnificent 8-10 foot shrub ensures reliable flowering whilst creating substantial visual impact that fits perfectly into larger garden settings, with the impressive size making it ideal for specimen positions, large borders, and prominent locations where its distinguished beauty and wildlife value can be fully appreciated without space constraints.

Flowering Performance

Throughout the extended season, 'White Profusion' delivers exceptional flowering displays that continue reliably from mid-July to the end of August, extending into September with regular deadheading. The plant produces abundant panicles of pure white blooms consistently, creating impressive visual impact with exceptional performance that ensures ongoing garden distinction and vital wildlife support. The individual flower panicles develop with classic conical formation, allowing gardeners to appreciate the perfect snow-white colour sophistication and bright yellow eye contrast, whilst the exceptionally generous panicle size of 30-35cm ensures impressive presence for extended periods throughout the growing season. The vigorous repeat flowering nature with excellent regrowth characteristics ensures magnificent displays throughout the season, with the ongoing rich blooms providing persistent focal points that enhance garden spaces with their pristine colour palette and exceptional wildlife magnetism.

Growing Conditions

'White Profusion' thrives in full sun with well-drained soils, performing best when grown in a sunny position with good drainage whilst maintaining consistent moisture for optimal performance and colour development. The buddleja adapts excellently to various soil types including clay if properly amended, and performs brilliantly in mixed borders, specimen positions, and contemporary garden spaces where the pure white colours can create maximum visual impact. For best results, plant in sunny locations with good air circulation and adequate space for the mature size, as this variety becomes weedy and sparse with diminished flowering performance if not grown in full sun. The variety will adapt to average, medium moisture conditions, whilst the substantial size makes it particularly suitable for larger garden situations where its wildlife qualities and pristine white colour intensity can be celebrated with adequate space for full development.

Hardiness and Disease Resistance

'White Profusion' demonstrates excellent resilience characteristics with reliable performance in UK growing conditions, maintaining healthy growth throughout the season with outstanding vigour in its substantial size. This winter hardy butterfly bush shows good hardiness with reliable cold tolerance, making it dependable for gardeners seeking robust large plantings and wildlife support. In USDA zones 5 and 6, this plant will often die to the ground in winter and therefore can be grown as an herbaceous perennial. The distinctive grey-green foliage with white-felted undersides remains attractive and vigorous with good disease resistance, making it an excellent choice for gardeners seeking dependable plantings with manageable maintenance requirements. The hardy nature ensures consistent performance across different growing conditions and seasonal changes, supporting reliable colour development and flowering performance throughout the extended flowering period.

Care and Maintenance

'White Profusion' benefits from cutting plants back close to the ground in late winter to maintain shape and encourage continuous flowering as it blooms on new wood. Even if plants do not die to the ground in winter, they often grow more vigorously, produce superior flowers, and maintain better shape if cut back hard annually. Apply balanced shrub fertiliser in early spring, with regular watering during dry periods to support the healthy vigorous growth and abundant flower production. The good disease resistance means this variety requires minimal intervention with standard care practices, making it ideal for gardeners seeking reliable plantings with distinguished wildlife impact. Regular deadheading of spent flower panicles maintains the spectacular white display and encourages continued blooming throughout the extended season, whilst preventing unwanted self-seeding in areas where naturalisation is undesired.

Garden Applications

'White Profusion' excels in large border displays, specimen features, and formal garden schemes where its pristine beauty and substantial proportions can be fully appreciated. The pure white colour makes it ideal for white-themed garden schemes, elegant focal features, moonlight gardens, and sophisticated landscapes where distinctive pristine impact and wildlife support are essential. Perfect for large borders, wildlife gardens, specimen planting, formal displays, and classic garden designs, this buddleja provides outstanding cut flowers that enhance floral arrangements with pure white elegance for special occasions and sophisticated displays. The vigorous growth and exceptional flowering performance make it particularly suitable for creating stunning focal points in larger gardens, whilst the impressive size and distinguished nature ensure it provides dramatic presence where its pristine colour creates spectacular garden interest and vital wildlife habitat.

Wildlife Value

'White Profusion' is exceptional for attracting butterflies, bees, and other beneficial pollinators, serving as both nectar source and wildlife habitat, with this variety considered the most powerful butterfly attractor among white buddleias. The abundant nectar-rich flowers composed of hundreds of small blooms provide significant wildlife resources throughout the extended flowering season. The extended flowering period from June to October provides crucial nectar sources when many other plants have finished blooming, making it invaluable for supporting wildlife throughout the garden season. The large size and abundant flowering make it perfect for wildlife gardens, pollinator gardens, and larger spaces where substantial wildlife support and visual appeal can be provided with classic garden sophistication and proven environmental benefits.

Seasonal Interest

Throughout the growing season, 'White Profusion' provides exceptional seasonal interest with extended displays and outstanding wildlife performance. Spring brings the emergence of fresh grey-green foliage with distinctive white-felted undersides and strong new vigorous growth, building anticipation for the main spectacular flowering display. The magnificent white blooms from mid-summer into early autumn provide months of pristine colour that maintains its sophisticated appeal throughout the season, creating consistent elegant impact and vital wildlife support. The attractive lance-shaped foliage remains healthy and distinctive throughout the season, providing perfect backdrop for the flower displays, whilst the graceful arching structure provides attractive garden architecture and valuable wildlife habitat year-round.

Fragrance Profile

'White Profusion' features sweetly scented flowers with delightful honey-like fragrance that will enchant the senses, with the pure white heavily scented blooms complementing the pristine visual display and enhancing both garden experience and wildlife appeal. The sweet perfume adds classic aromatic appeal whilst making this buddleja particularly valuable for positions near pathways, seating areas, and outdoor living spaces where both visual beauty and fragrant interest are desired. The rich fragrance enhances garden atmosphere and makes this variety suitable for areas where luxurious scent contributes to the garden experience, particularly near entertaining spaces where the perfume creates lasting elegant impressions and attracts beneficial wildlife throughout summer evenings.

Companion Planting

The distinctive pure white colouring of 'White Profusion' provides excellent opportunities for companion planting with complementary garden plants and sophisticated colour schemes. The pristine white colour works beautifully with plants that provide harmonising or contrasting tones, whilst purple, pink, and blue flowering plants provide excellent combinations that enhance the white purity. Silver and grey foliage plants provide elegant harmonies that complement the white-felted leaf undersides, whilst ornamental grasses and contemporary perennials can create stunning combinations throughout the growing season that support diverse wildlife communities whilst maintaining spectacular garden displays in larger settings.

Specimen Planting

The excellent vigorous qualities and distinguished nature make 'White Profusion' particularly valuable for gardeners who wish to create elegant focal points and specimen features in larger garden displays. The vigorous arching growth, abundant pure white blooms, and luxurious honey fragrance create outstanding garden displays that provide lasting seasonal enhancement whilst supporting vital wildlife populations. The reliable vigorous growth ensures impressive flowering impact whilst maintaining perfect graceful proportions for larger gardens, making it ideal for specimen beauty and wildlife displays that provide classic statements for sophisticated larger spaces with excellent environmental performance and proven garden merit.

Award Recognition

'White Profusion' represents exceptional buddleja excellence as the recipient of the prestigious Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society, with the award reaffirmed in 2010 following extensive trials at RHS Wisley. This recognition confirms its outstanding garden performance, reliability, and wildlife value, making it an excellent choice for gardeners seeking proven varieties with distinguished characteristics and environmental benefits. The pure white colour with distinctive bright yellow centres and exceptionally large panicles offers remarkable visual distinction whilst maintaining excellent wildlife appeal and performance, making it particularly suitable for formal garden designs, larger spaces, and classic border displays where sophisticated colour statements and wildlife support are important considerations.

Classic Excellence

'White Profusion' offers gardeners a distinguished classic variety that combines timeless beauty with exceptional wildlife value and proven reliability. Introduced to commerce in 1945 and still regarded as one of the best white cultivars, this variety provides the benefits of abundant flowering and wildlife attraction with proven garden performance. The variety's elegant appearance and dependable vigorous growth habit have made it popular among gardeners who appreciate shrubs that combine visual distinction with vital wildlife support and suitability for formal applications and sophisticated outdoor spaces that require both aesthetic excellence and ecological function.

Why Choose 'White Profusion'?

Buddleja davidii 'White Profusion' represents the perfect combination of classic beauty, pristine white colour elegance, and outstanding wildlife value in a proven package. The abundant panicles of exceptionally large pure white blooms with bright yellow centres and their rich honey fragrance provide exceptional displays from mid-summer through early autumn without interruption, whilst the vigorous healthy growth and good disease resistance ensure dependable performance with manageable maintenance requirements. Whether grown for distinguished specimen displays, formal garden features, wildlife habitats, white-themed gardens, or simply for its classic beauty and vital ecological role, this outstanding Award of Garden Merit butterfly bush offers exceptional value that combines timeless appeal with reliable garden excellence, creating lasting memories and enduring beauty that celebrates wildlife conservation and garden sophistication with pristine distinction that enhances any larger garden setting where elegance, reliability, proven performance, and environmental responsibility are appreciated.