Tall Purple Plants That Attract Butterflies

Climbing Milkweed

• Climbing milkweed (Matelea gonocarpa) is a vine that twines about whatever it encounters. This plant, which is native to southern sections of the United States, has leaves shaped like hearts, the milky sap common to most milkweeds, and greenish flowers with purple centers. The butterfly-attracting flowers bloom in clusters during July and into August. Climbing milkweed grows up to 10 feet tall.

Flowering Crab Apple Profusion

• Profusion (Malus x moerlandsii), a species of crab apple, produces purple-red flowers in spring, when its young leaves also are purple. The leaves later turn green. Profusion grows to 30 feet high, spreading in some instances as wide as 35 feet. It grows in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 through 8. During spring in the warmer parts of that range, the tree attracts butterflies. The crab apples produced by profusion also provide food for birds and are used in jellies and jams.

Butterflybush Black Knight

• The flowers on the Black Knight hybrid of butterflybush (Buddleja davidii) are deep purple. Black Knight grows to a height of 5 feet in a single season even if you prune it severely in winter, and it reaches 8 feet in height if you simply ignore it. Grown in a shady location it produces fewer branches and takes on an unkempt and weedy appearance, making it prudent to place it in a site with full sun. Black Knight does not tolerate wet ground well. The plant blooms during the height of butterfly movements, from June into September.

Glossy-Leaved Aster

• The glossy-leaved aster (Symphyotrichum puniceum) enjoys a wide range, with the ability to thrive from USDA zone 2 through zone 9. Attractive to butterflies with its purple flowers, the perennial grows as high as 8 feet. The glossy-leaved aster needs placement in full sun. The foliage is handsome, with the lance-shaped leaves possessing a sheen. Flowering begins in August and continues until through the first few frosts. The flowers of glossy-leaved asters are only about 1.5 inches wide.