Simply the best of all worlds

With plants like the shrub, buddleia, and perennial solidago, you can create a wonderland of flowers and foliage with only basic gardening skills. What’s more, they’re tough.

Buddleia davidii (also known as the butterfly bush) produces scores of sweet-smelling flowers that attract butterflies.

A good strong variety like ‘Black Knight’ (dark purple flowers) or ‘Royal Red’, will act as a magnet for numerous species.

Other good choices are the stylish ‘White Profusion’, with its huge, fragrant blooms, or the delightful ‘Fascinating’ which produces lilac-pink flowers. Each of these flowers from summer into autumn.

Solidago, also known as golden rod because of the golden-yellow of the flowers and upright growth, has an untamed look about it, and is great at surviving dry, challenging conditions.

If you’ve an exposed, windy place in your garden borders, on poor or sandy soil, a stand of solidago could be the answer as it will thrive in full sun in this sort of situation. Once established, it will perform year after year.

Solidago ‘Goldenmosa’ is a great option, with its bright yellow flowerheads. It reaches up to 75cm in height. ‘Crown of Rays’ is another winner. It’s a clump-forming perennial which can reach 60cm in height and produces golden yellow flowers.

‘Cloth of Gold’ is extremely floriferous, bearing deep yellow flowers and reaching up to 74cm in height. Solidago caesia reaches up to 1m, has bluish-grey stems and golden flowers from late summer to autumn.

Shrubby buddleia should be cut back hard in early spring to stimulate strong new growth. Beyond that, it will take care of itself.

Solidago, too, is a low-maintenance plant, but can spread too easily. To limit this, cut out stems that have flowered before they seed. They make great additions to cut-flower arrangements.

This pair of plants goes really well together because of their wild look and suitability for more naturalistic ways of planting.