I am in zone 7 David, and I would expect yours to be a bit small yet. I have 2 so far that are in bloom, and they are Nanho Blue, which always blooms first here, and also Attraction. Most of my others are leafed out now, and the slowest in the yard is the Sungold which is just now getting some good foliage.~~Angie

Some are a few feet tall, some are growing on old wood about 4' tall and some have one or two little leaves...and some aren't showing any life at all yet but I refuse to give up quite yet. I JUST found a new single little leaf cluster on a hydrangea I thought was dead, and two BB I thought were dead started showing little leaves recently (found over the weekend).

Mine were new last year, and are now 6-8 inches tall. Both are coming up from the ground.

Martha

Mine are about the same, 6-8 inches and starting over from the root. One didn't survive.

John

John how did your butterfly bushes survive and mine didn't? I mulched it wouldn't have survive? What happened?

It helps if you cut them back in early spring. I cut mine back to about 6" in late March and that got them growing.

3 of 4 survived in Minnesota (with leaf mulching) and the one that died was planted late summer 2013.

two of them are between 2-3 feet and the other is about 12".

If winter die off is a concern "buddleja buzz" is an excellent cultivar. Ours has survived the past 4 Minnesota winters. It comes in a variety of colors too.

Berger,
Did you have heavy snow? The insulation power of even a few extra inches of heavy snow can make a difference. My entire garden was young, but was buried under nearly 4 feet of snow from the plows. I don't think the cold had any impact. The only thing I lost was some lavender due to wet roots.

Martha

Thanks everyone! Its good to hear I'm in the same boat. I planted this for the first time last year so I'm not sure exactly what "slow to wake up" means with regards to BB. Its just another "read between the lines" thing on plant tags. I know last year when I bought it it was a tiny little thing and still got very large but I was starting to get apprehensive that these 3 little stems are going to become a bush sometime before fall rolls around.
Everyone's reassurance is always appreciated :)

Thanks again!

Coolbutterfly, funny you mention Buzz. We have two velvets, one has leaves and one doesn't (yet...hopefully). I got them two years ago so this was winter #2 for them.

Hi eclectic, our 4 year bush is a magenta. I added white and sky blue in spring.

If you lost your second velvet, try taking a cutting. I did that last fall with the magenta and overwintered the cutting indoors. Now we have 2 :)

Berger, I planted two near the house and those two made it. The third did not. Another factor may be wet roots in the Winter.

Cool Butterfly, I think I'll take a cutting or two off my White Profusion. That one is quite a winner with the butterflies. I haven't gotten much action with my Honeycomb, but that's in more shade.

If all else fails, I'll look for the Farmers' Market special; one booth sells FAT Buddhlea in 3 gallon cans. I hope he has them this year. I'd love to grab another two or so.

coolbutterfly, that is exactly what I plan to do! I've started a few others from cuttings, it's so easy. I just trimmed some of my larger ones in a hedgerow and stuck the cuttings (from the ones that are leafed out) into the dirt next to some that aren't showing growth yet. I managed to start a bicolor that way, I figured it's worth a shot. Just water the heck out of them and see if it works.

Has your sky blue bloomed yet? The photos make it look like a wonderful light blue but I wonder if it really is.

I've been wanting an Ivory, but I'm going to see if any of my Purple Emperor come back first, since they occupy the best spot to put in the Ivory. So far it's not looking so good, but I did find a brand new little leaflet on a Blue Chip last night so maybe there's still a chance.

I've just planted 5 blue ones along my front veranda and the are growing well even though it's the start of winter here at the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. I've never had them before - do they really attract butterflies? That would be wonderful.

Does anyone know of any other butterfly attracting plants?

I've just planted 5 blue ones along my front veranda and the are growing well even though it's the start of winter here at the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. I've never had them before - do they really attract butterflies? That would be wonderful.

Does anyone know of any other butterfly attracting plants?

nightinggale,
I suggest you take them out and plant something else. Australia has a lot of problems with these bushes taking over areas.

KC

Here is a link that might be useful: Butterfly bush - Buddleja davidii

This post was edited by kcclark on Tue, Jun 17, 14 at 2:41