Zebra swallowtail on new Blue Chip butterfly bushZebra swallowtail on new Blue Chip butterfly bushFrom KC blogger Mary Nemecek:

If you love the beauty and wildlife benefits of butterfly bushes, but you’re not thrilled with their size or invasive tendencies, you may find ‘Blue Chip’ an exciting introduction.

‘Blue Chip’ is a dwarf butterfly bush developed by Dr. Dennis Werner, director of the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University and a plant breeder in the NC State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. It is the first in the Lo and Behold buddleia series which will feature compact, low-growing plants that set very few seeds. Typically its size will be 2-3ft in both height and width.

Widely available for the first time this year, ‘Blue Chip’ has proven to be a prolific bloomer that has behaved well in my garden. While the jury may still out on how it will emerge from our freeze and thaw winters, one can only hope it keeps the promise of being a zone 5 plant as well as it lives up to its promise of a summer long bloom period and being tidy in the garden.