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Comment by joecool1029 | Hacker News Reader

Additionally don't plant butterfly bush, it's considered an invasive noxious weed and illegal in a few US states (at least Washington and Oregon, possibly New York). https://invasivespecies.wa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Bu...

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This always seems like a stretch to me? I have two large butterfly bushes in my ~2000 sqft pollinator garden (NorCal) and they seem to perform only moderately; I.e. they attract significantly less pollinators than almost any other plant in the garden. Lavender, salvia, sage, rosemary, Mexican sage, Mexican marigolds, poppies, and daisies all attract way more pollinators even though they are smaller.

Those bushes not attracting many pollinators doesn't make them less invasive or noxious.

True, but they aren’t invasive here (NorCal, they are “potentially invasive” because they are invasive elsewhere, but do not spread) and native butterflies can use them as a host species here.

I don't know about the US but in most of France and Belgium they are everywhere, they grow like weeds, including on badly maintained brickwork, they seem to be especially suited to urban areas.

All these other plants you mentioned do attract pollinators but they don't propagate as well, they are only where they have been planted at least around here. Even on the warmer Atlantic coast, rosemary and lavender grow well but they don't propagate nearly as much by themselves as butterfly bush (Buddleja) does.

I have two butterfly bushes in upstate NY. They are not invasive here; they struggle to survive cold winters (being killed back to the roots and recovering only partially.) They show no signs of spreading. When I lived near Chicago, they wouldn't survive cold winters at all.

It's super hardy and opportunistic. It's not uncommon here in the UK to see it growing out of cracks in brickwork at the tops of buildings.

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