Butterfly bush offers a wonderful, late summer fragrance. It's a fragrance that might transport you back to your childhood.

Butterfly bush is not just for smelling though. The plant is also well worth looking at, with its lanky branches terminating in spikes of small blue flowers. And each flower has an orange eye. Sometimes it is called summer lilac because of the way the flowers resemble those of lilac. Tiger swallowtails frequently dance around the bush from flower to flower.

Butterfly bush is no rarity. It is readily available through nurseries, but more rewarding would be to propagate a plant yourself. The seeds germinate readily, require no pretreatment, and bloom by autumn if sown early in the spring. Plants grown from seeds will not necessarily produce flowers that are the same color as those of the mother plant, but they'll be pretty whether yellow, white, pink, or purple -- the color range in this species. Softwood cuttings, taken now, or hardwood cuttings, taken in a few weeks, root readily. All you need is a nearby bush from which to take seeds or cuttings.

While waiting for your new bush to grow, think about where to plant it. Ideal sites are those bathed in hot sunshine where the soil is not at all soggy.

Annual pruning keeps butterfly bush looking its best.