what plant am I thinking of? (this is not a trick question!)

Hebe's are mostly evergreen and some are indeed low growing and will form a mound, they are also quite floriferous so can attract butterlfies.
A buddleia also attracts them and you can now buy low growing varieties and a perennial called scabious is an excellent butterfly attraction.

Daphne's are not so mound forming, they're quite open and lax, fairly floriferous so would attract butterflies too but i'd say the former would be better.

thank you, Louise! We have several of these in the communal garden that I look after at the local disabled charity office and I wanted some for home, but whoever bought them didn't keep the labels, sigh. hmm, thinking of that, I could get pictures ...

a picture as they say is worth a thousand words !
I reckon hebe could still be the right answer.
why not look up hebes here. go to the bottom of the page and click on H and then onto hebes from there.

thanks Seaburngirl. doh, I never thoguht of that! My usual source has always been the BBC Plant Finder, and they had both too much general information and not enough specifics

I've checked the pictures I've got of the gardens,but they're wide-angle, not showing the plants in enough detail - I'll see if I can get some closer pics.

But in the mantime I'll check out Hebes here, and thanks again for the suggestion.

Are the flowers scented, Fran? If so you could try Daphne tangutica or D. Cneorum.

thanks, Bulbaholic. I think they're mostly foliage plants, the flowers being tiny - but if they are butterfly-attractive, they must be scented? I'm due at the office on Monday, so I'll take my camera and get some close-ups, though I'll check the ones you suggest.

Skimmia? Pieris? dont think they are butterfly friendly though.

thanks everyone! you've come up with a lot of suggestions for so little data. In a few days I'll be getting some pics, and hopefully posting them a few days later

that will be great Fran

lol I should have done that in the beginning! (goes to stand in the didn't-think-of-it corner)

lol I should have done that in the beginning! (goes to stand in the didn't-think-of-it corner)

lol I should have done that in the beginning! (goes to stand in the didn't-think-of-it corner)

I finally managed to visit the garen with my camera, but either not being looked after has had an effect or they've been burgled, because I couldn't see anything that looked like what I wanted.

Ah well. I've finally gone through my boxes of books to find most of my plant ones, I'll have to find them a second time.

But thanks to all for the effort *s*

ps I'll let you know what they were when I find them again.