It will come back. they say not to prune these until spring..but I suppose that has already been done.

Yes, the bush will come back. But so will the deer. Rats with antlers. :(

Deer tried it and didn't like it--that's why the broken branches lying around. I've never heard of deer eating butterfly bushes.

they may come back.. depending on your zone.. and where you are in said zone .... and how bad this winter is... they are extremely short lived in my z5 ...

and if they dont.. its probably not because of this .. most peeps severely cut these back anyway ....

not to mention ... use of this particular common name.. rather than the latin.. can lead to confusion .... as there are a bunch of things that use this name ...

ken

If it was a deer and branches are broken, most likely a buck asserting himself by thrashing your shrubs with his antlers. Seems a little early for that, in my zone at least.

Eating, deer typically neatly clip leaves and tips, but one November I had a buck leave the island bed in my circular driveway wearing a crown of rhododendron branches tangled in his antlers. Another was jabbing into a cotoneaster outside my bedroom last year and I ran him off, he came back later and broke it beyond saving. So much bark was removed, it died ;)

I would tend to agree with morz8 that it isn't deer feeding since I also find them to be tidy eaters. Bucks often return to the same spot for rubbing off velvet, so you might want to put in some solid stakes and chicken wire for a bit to protect it.

Any possibility it was human caused?

nhbabs, when I've seen them in my gardens doing the thrashing, it's more of a display.....'look at me, I'm bigger, tougher, stronger, and have the best genes'...in other words, beginning of mating season. I don't know if the does are impressed or not, we did have many fawns running through here, and still do now this month ;)

I had just told DH earlier in the week that I hoped the bigger, heavier males weren't going to be hanging out here so much this year, we've taken out some larger things that gave them protection and some of their favorite foods too, like the ivy, laurel, blackberry. A three point walked across the front and through the island bed just yesterday, up the stairs (they do use the stairs) of the hillside, crossed the street to the neighbors apple tree.

" up the stairs (they do use the stairs) of the hillside "

Lol I couldn't help laughing at this!

Many plants thrive by being chewed up by animals. I believe that butterfly bushes, and maybe forsythia, benefit from being cut down every year. I had butterfly bushes many years back and never pruned them. I think that is why they died out.

I planted more in the same place and learned that they want to be chopped back and I have been successful with them ever since.

Even if deer don't eat these plants, other animals do and it works for me.

Butterfly bush now considered an invasive species - this is just recently that it became listed as this.

Of course this depends on ones location ie I have never been able to get a BB bush to last more than 2 seasons (I have planted close to 10...no wisecracks please). As well some cultivars are seedless/sterile.

It is only officially listed as an invasive species in Washington and Oregon. It has naturalized in some other areas but not to the point where it is considered invasive. btw, there are scores of butterfly bushes growing wild here and even in gardens that never get cut back...some are upwards of 20' tall!! Not being cut back does not affect their longevity at all!!

rouge's point is very valid. The invasiveness of any plant will be determined by region/location. Because a plant is considered invasive in one area does not mean it will behave the same everywhere else.