Buddleia
One of the last flower clusters on my butterfly bush in September.
Nature Diary
Notes from the field, essays, and observations.
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Notes from the field, essays, and observations.
One of the last flower clusters on my butterfly bush in September.
Nature Diary 
Nice one
Thanks, Jeremy!
Do purple flowers linger longest in your area? We have a few flowers that will hold on — or even begin their bloom — at this time of year, and most of them are purple: asters, vervains and Carolina wolfberry (Lycium carolinianum, for example. There are lingering sunflowers, of course, and post-freeze goldenrod new growth, but the abundance of purple intrigues me.
The buddleia was a revelation to me. I’ve only known butterfly bush as either a milkweed or lantana. This one surely did provide you with a lovely photo.
If I can contribute to the color question for the Austin area: anecdotally, I haven’t seen a predominance of purple this late in the year. Yes, there are some asters, but If anything, I’d tentatively point to the yellow in lingering sunflowers and goldenrod, as you mentioned. Yesterday I also saw one four-nerve daisy and one yellow Mexican hat.
Our fall asters are mainly white ones of different species, I have to search for more colorful asters. I’m fond of purple, that’s the reason for this post of a garden flower and the previous New England aster. The common name for buddleia is butterfly bush, and it really brings in Monarch, Great Spangled Fritillary, Tiger Swallowtail, American Lady, and skippers to my yard. Hummingbirds are attracted to it as well. The orange milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) also goes by butterfly weed or butterfly bush.
Do you know what species of butterfly bush you have? The only one that’s native in Austin is Buddleja racemosa, which has cream-colored flowers.
It’s a garden hybrid called Purple Knight, a variety that’s shade tolerant. Not a wildflower! I wish we had a native buddleia.
I so enjoy your macro-photography.
Thanks, Melissa!