A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Black Knight Butterfly Bush

Hi,
Last year I planted two Black Knight Butterfly Bush Trees. They looked great and you should have seen all the butterflys.
Now as everything is coming up, my two trees look like they have not made it through our winter (Milwaukee, Wisconsin).
I have talked with the garden store about this and was told it is to soon to see any life in them. I have a feeling that I just got a line of bull because they do not want to replace them.
So if any one can give me a answer on this, it would be great.
Thankyou,
dawnslight

What zone are in in there?

My butterfly bushes are all greening up here in zone 6 in NY, but that's also after the warm weather we had the last week or so. This week is rainy and colder. If we hadn't had that warm weather for so long, I'm not sure we would be as green as we are so early here.

Can you cut a branch to see if there is any green inside? If so, then they just haven't leafed out yet. All you need to do is cut a small branch and look around the inside of the bark - if you see green then they should be ok. Or you can just scratch the surface of the bark to see if there is any green there.

It's not bull, butterfly bush, rose of sharon etc. don't show signs of life until it is steadily warm. when we moved in, there was a dead stump. I put of getting rid of the stump and before I knew it it was summer. Turns out for me z5 my butterfly bush dies to the ground and then sprouts again. If you're in a warmer zone, they may not die to the ground, so do as P&P suggested, scratch the bark of a branch. As long as its green, its alive.

In your zone they will probably die back to the ground. Even in warm zones many people cut theirs down to about 6 inches. This keeps the bush smaller and produces more flowers. So you can either wait to see if you get any growth from the bottom, or go ahead and cut it back and wait to get growth. Hopefully, your winter wasn't so cold it killed the roots as well.

Hi,
Thankyou for your input. My question to you is, do you have the tree form? That is what I have and I'm not sure I can cut it down.
Dawnslight