I planted 'Miss Ruby' in a few yards last year. I am inherently biased towards it since I'm an alumnus of N.C. State, where 'Miss Ruby' was bred and released. And it is a nice butterfly bush, but honestly it didn't seem all that exceptional to me. The flowers are a very vivid reddish-purple color, but I don't know that they're significantly better than my longtime favorite 'Attraction' side-by-side. I guess 'Miss Ruby' is supposed to be a bit more compact than 'Attraction' and other older buddleia varieties (too early to tell for sure in the long run), but it's still quite vigorous and hardly a dwarf. Overall, I would say that it was a very good butterfly bush last year, but it didn't exactly blow me away. I'll be interested to observe how it develops in future years.

They say this butterfly bush attracts more butterflies than any other and has unigue silver leaves? Do you think that to be true? I just checked my nursery and they have the 'Attraction' also. Which would you go with? Which one do you think has more red in it? Thank you for your help I have never seen either of them. I only have room for one more Butterfly Bush!

Hmmmmm, let's see, comparing 'Attraction' to 'Miss Ruby'... Well, to start with, I would say that they're really not all that different. Actually, I think one could argue that an awful lot of butterfly bush cultivars are pretty much functionally interchangeable in the landscape, since they mostly all thrive in hot sun, resist deer very well, get as enormous as they're allowed to, look bad in the winter, and look great in the summer, particularly if they're fertilized and dead-headed. There are exceptions, of course, but most of the standard Buddleia davidii varieties do essentially that. So they're all pretty good, especially amongst the newer, high-quality cultivars, including both 'Attraction' and 'Miss Ruby.' That said, we can attempt to compare and contrast them a bit.

Does 'Miss Ruby' attract "more butterflies than any other?" That wasn't obvious to me, and I'm skeptical about that. Its flowers were certainly smothered by butterflies and all manner of other insects last summer, but so were those of every other butterfly bush variety. If the bugs can tell any difference or have any preference for one or another, it wasn't apparent to me.

Does it have "unigue [sic] silver leaves?" No, not to me. I thought the leaves of 'Miss Ruby' were very nice, and were a little broader and thicker and "cleaner"-looking than most butterfly bushes (at least until an outbreak of mites in August disfigured the foliage of most buddleias). But I wouldn't say that 'Miss Ruby's leaves were unique, and they weren't particularly silver, the way 'Lochinch' and some other buddleias are. And actually, I think 'Attraction has very nice foliage compared to other butterfly bushes, too. So in my opinion, based on one year, I would call it a tie between the two.

Which variety "has more red in it?" Well, the easy answer is neither. I don't care what anybody or any magazine or website says, to my eyes, neither 'Attraction' nor 'Miss Ruby' nor any other buddleia I've seen really looks red to me. Of the two, though, I still think 'Attraction' is a little more reddish. The color of 'Miss Ruby' is very pretty, though, kind of a fluorescent magenta, but I wouldn't call it red.

So, which one would I "go with?" I like them both a lot, and I don't think you could go wrong either way. To me, I think it would come down to what its role would be in the particular spot you have in mind of it. If it's a spot that needs a compact, medium-sized specimen, I would pick 'Miss Ruby.' If it's a spot where a big, expansive, sprawling mass, covered with lovely flowers and leaves would be best, I would choose 'Attraction.' The bottom line, though, is that I'm sure you'll be happy with either.

WOW, Thank you for taking so much time to answer all my questions. My space for it is about 5 foot wide maybe a little less. So I think I am going to go with the Ruby. There was some differences looking at peoples info about the Attraction on the size. Some said it would fit some said It would be a little to big. How big do you think the attraction would get in a zone 5b? Thanks again! P.S. Have you had any experience with the Josse or Bloomerang Lilacs?

hydrangeasnohio, sorry, I hadn't noticed that you had re-replied to this thread until just now. Anyhow, you asked about the size of the 'Attraction' butterfly bush in zone 5b, but of course it's kind of hard to say. For the most part, 'Attraction,' like other buddleias, will grow about as large as the space it's given, particularly if it receives ample amounts of heat, sun, water, and fertilizer. They really grow like weeds once the weather gets hot. Up in your zone, their ultimate size is limited somewhat by the fact that the colder winters may kill back some more of the topgrowth. But they sprout back so vigorously from the roots the following spring that that doesn't really matter that much. And even here, where the wood does generally survive the winter, most of us still cut them back hard in April anyway, to contain their size and encourage a uniform flush of strong, vigorous foliage and flowers. And they can also be pruned back with abandon at any point through the season, both to deadhead them and to keep them at whatever size you want. So, given all that, I would think that 'Attraction' would fit reasonably well in s five-foot-wide space, but 'Miss Ruby' may be an even better fit, since it does seem to be a tad slower-growing and more compact.

As for the lilacs you asked about, I don't have a lot of firsthand experience with them, since lilacs aren't really a big part of landscapes here in the South. I've seen 'Josee' in some gardens, and it's okay. Its re-blooming is sort of nice, although it still looks pretty crummy late in the season regardless, at least around here. All in all, I'm not sure it's really a better garden plant than the similar lilac 'Miss Kim.' And I haven't seen the Bloomerang lilac in a garden at all yet, but I'm interested to see how it goes. Maybe someone else on here can provide some more specific insight.

Hope this helps!

Yea I cut back mine to 12 inches or less every year. This year it seems like they actually made it through winter. They usually die back basically to the ground. But I still cut them back so I can control them. I have pretty much decided to go with the Ruby and see what it is all about. I probably could wait till next year and they will have a true red BB bush. But I of course can not wait that long!!!

My mother has a Miss Kim Lilac and has been very dissapointed with it. It is going on it's 5th year and was a 3 or 5 gallon when she bought it. She also has it well sited in full sun and gets a couple blooms every spring and nothing else. She dead heads it after spring with no luck of any rebloom. Also how few blooms it has in Spring is sad. Maybe she just got a dud or it needs more time to mature, I don't know?? My local city has planted many Josee's and they seem to do great! They rebloom in Summer and Fall, but were huge when they planted them. This is the first year Josee's have been available at our local nursery. Bloomerang's were available last year here but they wanted $60 for very small ones in like a 2 or 3 gallon which was to rich for my blood. Along with never hearing any feedback on them, seemed unwise to try one for that price. Thanks again for all your knowledge and time!!!