The only thing I can add Tom is that I want one too!!! It's on my "oh, I hope I can get that someday" list!! Snap some pics and let us know how it does.~~Angie

Mine has grown huge and colonized - I have plenty of space for it, so I don't care. The butterflies love it so much, it's well worth a spot in the garden, and Sandy in Oklahoma found cecropia moth caterpillars on hers one year, as I recall. Mine makes one big bloom in late spring, then blooms sporadically in late summer.
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Sherry

Ilove this bush mine is just getting leafs I used 2 pails the bottem with only a overflow hole to hold water so my button bush never needs a drink so dry here in Texas.

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I just planted mine last year. I put it in an area that tends to be pretty wet, except if it doesn't rain for a long time. I put it close to some swamp milkweed and a spicebush.
Can't wait to see what it attracts.

I like the idea of putting it in a pot within a pot--the last one with no holes. Mine is in a large pot at the moment...

I think it was your pictures that sold me on this plant last year, Sherry. I had seen some butterflies on them at a park I visit before, but the thread last year convinced me that I needed to get one for sure.

Anxious to see how it works out. By the way, when does it drop its leaves?

I don't remember exactly, Tom, just that they lose their leaves in the fall about the same time other deciduous trees/bushes are losing theirs.
Mine are just now leafing out - 'takes 'em a while!
Sherry

Hi everyone, I am going to start growing button bush this year and I had been concerned our soil wasn't wet enough.

This pot-in-pot idea sounds like the solution I've been looking for.

What size pots do you recommend for both the plant and the outer pot? Thanks in advance, Tony

I wished I had used a 5 gallon pail I hope a 3 gallon pail will be enough I was just to lazy to dig a hole that big I put my pails in ground hehehe
Angie

Here is a link that might be useful: self watering planter

Hiii,

Does anyone have seeds of this button bush to trade? i would really like to try some.
i have
aristolochia elegans
annona
tropical milkweed
canna species ( glauca, indica, cocinea, warszewiczii and hybrids)
and other tropicals
if anyone is interested please let me know.

Tony, these bushes can get very big. I'm not sure how big the pot I have it in is, but I would guess at least 30 gallons. It's about 18 inches across and more than that deep.

The size of the pot will depend upon the size of the plant you start out with. If you are starting from seed the pots would be small.

The plant I got was in a pot that was about five gallons. I'm thinking that it should be good for a few years in the pot I have. I would have put it in the ground, but I don't have any very wet areas in my yard.

Thanks Tom, I guess I'll start off with the 5 gallon and work my way up!

Ok i guess no one wants to trade/ share....

Sorry, Siam. I don't have seeds to share. I don't collect them.

I got some seeds on seed exchange its a great way to get fresh seeds you cant find I have had great luck with this and I use to buy mine on ebay never to have them sprout now I get a 85% sprout rate and I finaly have my milkweed honeyvine from a seed swap it sprout in less than a week try it out great people out there.
Angie

Here is a link that might be useful: seed exchange

Angie gives great advice. I've traded with 5 people and have yet to have a bad experience!

You can also search for a plant/seeds and it will bring back a list of all the members that have it for trade!

Good luck, Tony

I may have missed it but what is the botanical name for this plant and does anyone know where I might get one? Murray

I looked on Shady Oak's site and they have buttonbush listed as one of the plants that they offer free seeds of for a SASE. They also have others on the list. I'm including a link for it...scroll down further on the page to get to the list of plants. If it has an "S" behind the name of the plant, you can get free seeds of it.
Cathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Shady Oak Farms Free Seeds

Here is how fast my button bush came out first pic is a few weeks ago . Angie

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My buttonbush has started blooming. Tiger swallowtails have been rare this year, and what better proof than the fact that there was only one on the blooming buttonbush? I've seen as many as 9 or 10 on it -
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I'll be watching to see if the flowers make seeds, Siam.
Sherry

The Latin name for buttonbush is Cephalanthus occidentalis. I know everyone says it has to have wet soil, however, I don't believer that's necessarily true. It does, of course, depend on your zone. I planted mine on the W-NW side of the house, by the downspout. It only gets wet when it rains. I don't water any plants, unless they're new. I purchased mine from a native nursery here in IL, in a 5 gallon pot. Asking the nursery owner, he told me the soil recommendations were anywhere from mesic, hydric, to wet mesic. My soil is actually between mesic and dry, and the plant does great.

Very interesting because I have mine which I just got a couple of weeks ago in a 15 gallon pot. Now I wish I had planted it in the ground near my down spout because it drains slowly and the soil there is usually damp. Maybe I will move the pot out there. Murray

Why is it in a pot, Murray?

I have it in a pot because we don't get rain for months at a time and I thought it needed boggy soil. I also don't know anything about its root system and whether it can be planted near my house. If you can advise me on these issues I would be happy to get it in the ground by tomorrow. Thanks, Murray

I think your idea of planting it near a down spot is a good idea, Murray. These plants do like boggy soil, but they will adapt to less wet soils and still do well.

That said you can probably improve its chances of doing well by adding topsoil (not potting soil) to the hole you dig to plant it. Topsoil that is sold in garden centers usually is very much like dried muck. It retains water more than other soils or additives.

I found one a couple of weeks ago at a local nursery for $8/gallon plant. I planted in where it is moist & gets water from irrigation every few days. I planted it in part shade under a cedar elm. Wish it would bloom this year but just happy to have one!

SIAM...I do have seeds from trades that I never planted this spring if you want some! I would be glad to send them to you for SASBE or swap. Check out my page & email me!

Where are you located, Murray? I placed mine at the WNW corner of our house, because even though I'm in NIL, it can still get hot and my soil is dry mesic. So I planted accordingly. Buttonbush is a native/indigenous plant and should be planted in native soil, not a store bought soil. Your native soil will give it the best chance for survival. It's said that by adding anything other than your soil to the hole gives the plant a 'bathtub' effect. What that means is that the roots don't want to go outside of the amended hole you've dug. That's also means that because I follow that, doesn't mean everybody else has to! Here's a photo of my buttonbush almost 3 yrs ago when I planted it. it's the one right next to the downspout. I'm sorry, I don't have an updated photo. If you want one, I can certainly run out and get one!

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I saw my first buckeye of the season on the buttonbush today, plus my first FEMALE tiger swallowtail this year, a rare yellow one. I still haven't seen a black one.
Here's the buckeye -
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And here's the female tiger - she wouldn't pose in such a way that you can see the blue on her hindwings, but it's there -
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Sherry

That's incredible! It looks exactly like mine right at this moment. I have a couple of spots I can choose from. One is like yours by a spout and the other is on the SW side also by a spout. So that's great. As soon as the rain stops, it goes in.

BTW, I am in central CA and half an hour north of San Francisco. The tree is native to the area so it should work out well. Thanks for the info and help deciding. Ever since the new neighbor had five large old trees removed this spring I have not seen more than a few butterflies where usually by now I would have tigers and anise swallowtails everywhere. It has been so disappointing and I couldn't figure out how to add some trees on my small lot. I will probably just have to resign myself to losing some of the nectar plants in favor of the trees but it will be worth it if it brings back the butterflies. Murray

Great Murray!! I'm so glad I could help!

Someone else, on another forum here, said all their neighbors cut down all their trees too. They were worried about all the birds going away. My advice is to get a list of your native/indigenous plants and see what all are host and or nectar plants and cram as many as you can in. BTW, we have a really small lot too, so I sure do sympathize!

Hiiiiiiiiiii,
Miss Sherry, thanks so much for remembering me! Those button bush pics are sending me crazy lol. Great pics, i hope you get seeds from it.
Siam.

Yes, I have a hard time staying away from the buttonbush when it's making it's first big bloom too, Siam! Yesterday not just one, but two black female tigers showed up to join the males and the yellow female, plus there were more of other types of butterflies, like an American lady, and a male spicebush and a pipevine swallowtail. I wish it were in bloom like this from early spring to late fall, but the only additional blooms it makes (at least last year) are sparse and in late summer or early fall, they don't cover the big bush like they do in the first bloom.
Sherry

Most exciting, Miss Sherry, where i live its always hot and sunny like summer all year round. I wonder if the buttonbush would be blooming all year round for me? :D
Siam.

I've had a buttonbush in a very large container for two years now, but it has never bloomed. It is extremely hot where I live but I try to keep it well watered. Any suggestions to help it bloom?

They like lots of water. In nature they will even live with their roots submerged for some time.

Other than that if it is getting enough sun then you might try some bloom booster that you can get in the stores.

Mine is now blooming nicely, but there are so few butterflies around that it is getting no business. We are starting to get some rain in Cental Florida, so hopefully the butterflies will start showing up in larger numbers.

I have a button bush that has not stopped blooming all season. It is still blooming even in this extreme heat.
Mine is planted along side of the septic system where water is available year round. (Not to mention fertilizer.)
I planted a semi bog garden in this area as sewer water always kept the area mushy. Bad enough to where the riding mower would get stuck.

I have a cousin with a lot of milkweed on her property (property is 2 or 3 acres). I recommended buttonbush because she wanted a cecropia hostplant. She told me to get some for her. On Saturday, I dropped off 8 buttonbushes. She emailed me Sunday night, wanting to know where to plant them (she had forgotten what I had told her last month). I emailed her back on Monday but she had already done internet searches. She came up with dog sites that list buttonbush as a big danger. I emailed her back that all her milkweed contains the same type of poison as the buttonbush. She planted the buttonbushes.

My buttonbush is growing in the drainage field of our septic tank, too, and it's also bloomed all summer long. The number of blooms is much smaller than what was on the bush in May, but some are still there. It seems like the older my bush gets, the longer the bloom period.

I've read that buttonbush leaves are poisonous to cattle, KC, but where they grow naturally, in low, wet, swampy areas, aren't usually a part of a pasture. My bush is outside the picket fence around the front of my house, so my dogs never get near it. I've noticed that deer never browse it.

Sherry

Deer have never bothered my buttonbushes (yet) but I've read that deer eat it in the northeastern part of the US.

Last night, I had to make a late night run to my front yard for some BST chow. I was surprised to see a variety of decent size moths (wingspan 2"-3") enjoying the buttonbush flowers. The buttonbush I planted this year is currently flowering. The two older ones were done flowering many moons ago.

My kids were out tonight catching lightning bugs. My main buttonbush is blooming so I took a look at it. Had a bee mimic fly and a few moths enjoying the flowers, including a milkweed tiger. I should set up a black light near it and see what shows up.