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Old April 14, 2008   #1
Tomstrees
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Default Butterfly Bush

Hey everyone - hope all is well.

Last fall, I went to visit my parents in Cape May (vacationing) and the house they were renting had a beautiful butterfly bush in the back.

It wasn't the traditional purple one, it was yellow.

So I took some cuttings and to my surprise, they sprouted roots!
So after potting them up and keeping an eye on them, I finally got them out into the shed and actually planted 1 of them in a prepared bed this past weekend.

Any special care to give to these super cool plants?

Thanks, Tom
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Old April 14, 2008   #2
jungseed
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You know there is a dark red version also? It's called Asclepias incarnata (Soul Mate)
They are pretty carefree. Grows in zones 3-9. Says drought resistant, plant in full sun. Flowers from early July through August followed by milkweed type seed pods used for dried arrangements. Tolerates poor, sandy soils. Height can vary from 18 to 36 inches. They are slow to appear in spring, so mark their location well.
Sounds pretty easy to me.
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Old April 14, 2008   #3
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Oops, you knew about the dark red one, there is yellow, orange and dark red. Sorry about that.
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Old April 14, 2008   #4
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I have a few myself in the yard. 1 yellow, 1 white, 2 dark purple and 3 pinkish. The yellow one is the 'Honeycomb' variety. Mine grows about 5' -6' and flowers most of the year. The only work I do to it is dead-head some of the flower heads after a while. Since it's near my front porch, I like it to look as best as possible. Here in NC, I trim it in the winter months when ever I get to it. I can hack it down as low as I want and it always returns. Butterflies and bees love it.
One note, my Honeycomb flowers are not as big as my other Butterfly bushes flowers. About three to four inches compared to 6 or 7 inches on the purples. My white is also small. I think that's a trait of it since I've seen this before. Not to worry though as it pumps them out all summer.

Greg
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Old April 14, 2008   #5
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Tom is referreing to buddlei - butterfly bush and you are talking about butterfly weed.....2 totally diff plants.


Quote:
Originally Posted by jungseed View Post
You know there is a dark red version also? It's called Asclepias incarnata (Soul Mate)
They are pretty carefree. Grows in zones 3-9. Says drought resistant, plant in full sun. Flowers from early July through August followed by milkweed type seed pods used for dried arrangements. Tolerates poor, sandy soils. Height can vary from 18 to 36 inches. They are slow to appear in spring, so mark their location well.
Sounds pretty easy to me.
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Old April 14, 2008   #6
Tomstrees
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look at all of these !!!

http://www.springmeadownursery.com/plants_buddleia.htm

~ Tom
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Old April 14, 2008   #7
jungseed
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Thanks, your right. It really has been that kind of day. But the sun is shining. Butterfly bush comes in alot of different colors. They are 4 to 6 foot tall plants. Cutting back before spring growth starts that was suggested is also a good thing to do. it will stimulate earlier and more flowering. They should be cut back to 6 to 10 inches. Plant in full sun.
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Old April 15, 2008   #8
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seems like the transplant is taking - no new growth but is still green

~ Tom
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Old June 9, 2008   #9
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My cuttings have transplanted well and are really taking off now!

This is a picture of the yellow variety:


~ Tom
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Old June 9, 2008   #10
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The bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds ought to be really happy about those flowers! I love butterfly bush, but don't have any...yet

Do you plant anything else for butterflies? I always grow extra parsley and dill for host plants.
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Old June 9, 2008   #11
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Hey Jen ! Hope all is well ...

I'm a perennial "tall flower kind of guy", here are some other attractors at our place!

















~ Tom
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Last edited by Tomstrees; August 5, 2008 at 08:45 AM. Reason: pics
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Old August 5, 2008   #12
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We got blooms on our butterfly bush !!! The yellow flowers are sooo cool - will post pics !

~ Tom
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Old August 5, 2008   #13
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Butterfly bush is a perennial sub shrub. This means it is technically a perennial, but gets large woody stems like a shrub. In my zone 6 area, it dies back in winter and in very late spring, it starts putting out new growth. I cut mine down really short in early spring and every year, I think it's dead. Everything else is putting on new growth and it sits there, looking like toast. Eventually it takes off. So if it looks dead next spring, don't assume that you've killed it. Give it till mid June or so to start greening up. For what it's worth, I've found that the yellow is not quite as hardy as the blacks/purples/reds/whites.
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Old August 12, 2008   #14
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yeah - we barely get frost in our area ... It snowed a total of 1 time in 2007-2008. I had parsley come back !!! That's how little killing frost we have!

Also, the yellow butterfly bush is cranking out the blooms now. Will snap a pic soon. I will cut it down come fall as this will be its first "winter" at its new location. Its spent its first winter "rooting" in my windowsill. Time will tell.

~ Tom
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Old August 15, 2008   #15
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here is a pic of one of the flower clusters ... This bush has grown "wirey" so I'm def. gonna have to "train" it ...

~ Tom

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