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| Hi there. I purchased a Bicolor Butterfly Bush from Gurney's this spring. It was a tiny little thing and it came really early, so I potted it up in a coffee grounds container until I could plant it in the ground. It's now probably 2.5-3 feet and covered in blooms even though it gets a little more shade than maybe it should. I absolutely love it, and want to do what I can to make sure it survives these crazy Iowa winters. From those of you who have overwintered them, is there anything I can do? Thank you!! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by linlily z5/6PA (jakey915@comcast.net) on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 17:11
| Depending on the winter, you may have success having it return or maybe not. I'm a zone 6 but we had a zone 5 winter last year. I lost a 6 year old Royal Red, large, healthy, and well established Butterfly Bush. My others are all finally in bloom, after some dying completely to the ground, which is unusual here. I would make sure you mulch your plant and do not trim back the plant until spring. That is probably the most you can do to help it make it through the winter and return next spring. Oh, and keep your fingers crossed - it can't hurt! Linda |
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- Posted by thegardenat902 Zone 5 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 17:14
| Hi Linda thanks for your response. Sorry to hear you lost some last winter. When you say mulch, do you mean more than having the garden area mulched just like a normal garden? I have a layer of mulch around that whole area. Or do you mean piling it up so it's thicker? Thanks again! Fingers crossed it makes it. |
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- Posted by ken_adrian MI z5 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 17:16
| it will depend on where you are in z5 ... its a vast area ... and your little micro climate .. in one suburban z5 garden.. i got them to live a few years .. before the bad winter came ... in farmland sand z5 ... they did not come back in year two ... whether it was blistering winter winds.. or the sand.. or drought.. i dont know ... ken |
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| I'm in Michigan zone 5. I have 4 BB's and they all survived this past BRUTAL winter. I think as long as you plant it in well draining soil it will be just fine. Also note that they are slow to sprout new growth in the spring. When you see this you can then cut it back to about 6-8 inches. I do this every year with great success! They bloom all summer, as long as you keep it deadheaded. I just love mine :) |
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- Posted by thegardenat902 Zone 5 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 17:20
| I'm just south of Des Moines Iowa. We usually get a fair amount of snow. |
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- Posted by thegardenat902 Zone 5 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 17:22
| lil - so you don't do anything to protect them? I read that they can come back as late as June so I will try hard to be patient and not assume they are dead. :) Hope I have as much success as you. The soil should be in an area that drains well! |
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| My beds are all mulched, but I don't use "extra" anywhere. Yes well draining I believe is key. I lost one at my old house that was in a low area that took much longer to dry out. I'm sure that's what killed it. |
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- Posted by thegardenat902 Zone 5 (My Page) on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 17:40
| Perfect - thanks! Mine is mulched and should have good drainage so hopefully it survives! Thanks everyone! |
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| Mine overwintered with no problems, no winter protection. The ground was mulched well with leaves, and I did not prune back until spring. Keep in mind this is a dieback shrub -- it may appear "dead" because the branches die back in this zone, but will sprout from the base/sprouts on branches near the base and grow very quickly into full-size plants. |
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- Posted by gardenweed_z6a N CT (My Page) on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 18:41
| While all my butterfly bushes were grown from seed via winter sowing, I planted them in several beds around the garden, both full- and part-sun. The happiest of them is growing, to my surprise, in a part shade bed on the north side of my house. Go figure. The soil is consistently well-drained in my garden so excess moisture has never been a concern. Granted, they were very late showing new growth this past spring due to the extreme winter but all came back and are currently blooming. Beyond using corrugated cardboard topped with pine bark nuggets to suppress weeds around them in my garden beds, none of mine have ever been mulched. As long as Mother Nature is driving the train, there's not a lot you can do to help your BB survive whatever winter throws at it. Established perennials growing in healthy soil with well-developed root systems should survive pretty much whatever comes at them in terms of weather. Cross your fingers and be glad your plant had several months to develop a healthy root system. |
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| As long as Mother Nature is driving the train, there's not a lot you can do to help your BB survive Well I am going to intervene on Mother Nature. I planted 2 mini BB in late mid July. (They are planted side by side). An experiment: Late this Fall I will put this 'tent' over one of them. Over the other I will use lots of mulch. May the best protection win! |
Here is a link that might be useful: Framed shrub cover
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| Protection like that tent will probably help. Another thing you can consider is planting a more vulnerable specimen in a protected location, or warmer microclimate, such as against the house foundation. Also I think some Buddleia cultivars are hardier than others. My Buddleia 'Black Knight' is about 9 years old and has proven to be quite hardy. It's out in a very exposed location subject to harsh winter winds that come whipping across the farmland across the street. It suffered more dieback than usual this past winter, but now it's 6 feet tall and bushy.
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- Posted by pitimpinai z6 Chicago (My Page) on Thu, Aug 21, 14 at 19:56
| It really depends on the cultivars and the microclimate as mentioned above. I live in Chicago about 6 miles from the lake, where the temperature has not dropped below -10 in 20 years. I had B. lochinch for about 5 years then it died. My second no name Buddleia has returned 3 years now and another 4 year old one that I grew from a tiny seedling is doing well whereas my neighbor's Black Knight that was 8 or 9 years old died this past winter. I wonder if Buddleia is not a long lived plant by nature. |
This post was edited by pitimpinai on Fri, Aug 22, 14 at 9:56
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| In our neck of the woods, only anecdotally speaking, nursery people lost over 75% of their BB stock due to this most recent frigid winter (and that is with significant protective snow cover). A BB, realistically hardy to say a...zone 4...might be one of the holy grails of plant propagation ;). |
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- Posted by luckyladyslipper MA 5b-6a (My Page) on Fri, Aug 22, 14 at 11:12
| I, too, am in the group of those with a healthy, 8-year-old Black Knight that succumbed to the Polar Vortex. My brand new Dubonnet made it through. Dubonnet had more mulch; don't know if that was a factor. |
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- Posted by thegardenat902 Zone 5 (My Page) on Fri, Aug 22, 14 at 11:27
| Oh those tents are neat!!! Mine is planted in a garden bed next to our house so hopefully the house will protect it some. Thank you all for your responses. Fingers crossed it makes it. it's so beautiful! |
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- Posted by hairmetal4ever Z7 MD (My Page) on Fri, Aug 22, 14 at 11:31
| I have a 'Blue Chip' buddleia. It's a dwarf and stays around 4' by 3'. It died back to the ground here in zone 7 last winter, and we never officially got below zero. It resprouted, and looks pretty much the same as it did last summer at this point. I don't know these plants that well but the one I have seems resilient and bloomed on the new resprouted wood. |
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- Posted by linlily z5/6PA (jakey915@comcast.net) on Fri, Aug 22, 14 at 13:53
| All of my butterfly bushes are near the house with the exception of the Royal Red that did not make it. Dubonnet is not right next to the house but is still somewhat protected. Pink Delight, Black Knight, and a NOID lavender are right next to the house. Perhaps the cold winter wind was just too much for Royal Red. It was mulched in too, as we mulch all of our plants. Linda |
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| The only BB that survived this past winter here was a dwarf white one (not sure of the name - don't seem to have a tag for it....) The big one I lost was over 10 years old and another one was 9 years old, so I'm beginning to think like pitimpinal - i.e. that 8-10 years may be a normal lifespan for BB. I wonder about lifespan of clematis too - I've lost a couple in the past few years - including Sweet Autumn this past winter. They were all ones I planted in our first couple of years here so they were 12-14 years old. The longer you garden in one place, the more likely you are to run up against the lifespan limit of something - but I'm more inclined always to point the blame at weather, or my poor maintenance or siting of something, rather than to think it was just old and likely to die soon anyway. Now that the thought is in my mind though, I'm starting to look around to speculate on what might be old enough to die off soon. I suspect we might well have another hard winter coming up that would finish off anything weakened from either age or last winter's damage. The garden is getting full now and I wouldn't mind a few empty spots to fill up with something new! :-) |
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- Posted by gardenweed_z6a N CT (My Page) on Fri, Aug 22, 14 at 19:54
| Only one of my butterfly bushes is growing up close to the house; the rest are growing in various island beds with one close to the unheated garage foundation. I grew all of them from seed via winter sowing in 2009 and planted out the seedlings sometime in 2010 so none of mine have reached what could possibly be the benchmark age of 8-10 years. Less than a mile from me, however, there's a house where a really huge old butterfly bush is growing that is the same size as my own mature crabapple tree. I'm guessing that one is older than 8-10 years. You'd need a chainsaw to cut that one back in the spring. Like woodyoak, my garden beds are beginning to mature and no longer look half empty. My frenzied efforts to winter sow back in 2009 & 2010 (um, 500 milk jugs) have given me hundreds of free perennials to fill the formerly empty spaces. I've cut back this year and only sowed 16 milk jugs. My Jacob's ladder didn't survive last winter and I sure missed it when spring rolled around this year. |
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- Posted by arbo_retum z5 ,WinchstrMA (My Page) on Sun, Aug 24, 14 at 1:40
| i think Terrene is right on the money. Another trick that can help is placing a large rock next to a ~hardy plant- to absorb the sun and create a slight bit more warmth. (I actually know a nurserywoman in my area who planted her passion flower vine by her dryer vent, and it lives on!) |
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