Washington state's weed board is presently considering listing butterfly bush as a Class C Noxious Weed because it has been found not only in disturbed areas but in formerly pristine places that native plants had not previously invaded.

Class C listing doesn't make butterfly bush illegal to grow or sell, but it does warn us that this plant represents a significant threat to native habitat. This recognition came years ago in England, where butterfly bush was first imported from China as a pretty ornamental shrub.

Butterfly bush is showing its true colors

I am aware of that. It's been posted on every single other request for Butterfly Bush as well. I am still looking for cuttings or plants, thank you :-)

Since they self-seed rampantly along highways, in disused parking lots and in various natural areas, why don't you just collect a wild seedling?

Most responsible gardeners decline planting and trading this plant in our area.

Best I can tell they don't self-seed anywhere near where I live. I spend most of my time researching, identifying, and photographing wild plants for a project I am working on and I have never once seen a Butterfly Bush growing outside of someones yard. The closest thing I have seen to one in the wild in my area is a large bush growing in an old homestead site.. but even that one has yet to self seed anywhere.. and I've been watching it for years.

I don't exactly live in the banana belt. We are up in the foothills of the Cascades and every Butterfly Bush I have ever grown has died off during the winter. So I am planning on growing one in a large pot so that I can bring it into the garage for the winter.

The attitude I'm getting for posting this is amazing.. if you do not have a Butterfly Bush for trade.. I would politely request that you decline from posting in this thread. Maybe you should start a new thread for the sole purpose of bashing Butterfly Bushes with the rest of the "responsible gardeners in our area" Thanks!

My Mom has a butterfly bush that we can bring. They are amazingly beautiful, aren't they? Mom lives on an Island in Case inlet, and while her butterfly bush does volunteer, it isn't invasive by any means. It sounds like your zone is much colder than hers, so this particular bush shouldn't be invasive in your area.

So they all die off during the winter up there, yet there is a large one at an old homestead site? Must be more hardy than the kinds you have been buying.

Or they get better at keeping the stems after they get older, as do empress trees. Elsewhere, where cold winters regularly kill the tops down Buddleja davidii is grown as a perennial, new stems coming from the crowns each year. Often makes a better plant cut down short at the end of winter anyway, even where tops are hardy.

Maybe you should mulch your next one for the winter, give it time to grow back from the roots afterward.

Sunset Western Garden Book (2007 Sunset Publishing) has it zoned to way colder (Sunset 2) than where you are:

Invasive in disturbed soils in parts of Oregon and Washington. Needs good drainage and enough water to maintain growth. Cut back heavily before spring growth begins. May die to the ground in freezing weather but will regrow from roots like a perennial and bloom the same year

"if you do not have a Butterfly Bush for trade.. I would politely request that you decline from posting in this thread.... Thanks!"

bejoy2- That would be great :-) I was waiting to find out if we are going or not and it looks like we are. What do you want in exchange?

Check out my Mom's 'Wanted' posting for the Green Elephant. Otherwise, I like any plant that attracts hummingbirds. I especially need some blue hues to fill in my hummingbird garden, so any penstemon, veronica, salvia, etc in blue would be perfect. A hardy fuchsia would be nice as well.

If you can't make the Green Elephant, I am having a trade in Olympia next month.

FYI - Only the species butterfly bush is on the Washington State Noxious Weeds List. My Mom's is a cultivar, although I don't recall the name.

Bejoy2- I will be at Green Elephant. I'll check out your moms list and bring anything I can :-)

I'm not terribly worried about it being invasive here. I think what a lot of people are missing is that most of western WA varies widely in elevation and micro-climates. So while the Butterfly Bush at a homestead 30 miles away (and hundreds of feet closer to sea level) comes back just fine every winter.. that doesn't mean that those at higher elevations or more exposed sites will have the same luck.

I plan on growing it in one of several enormous planters so that I can wheel it in to the garage come winter.