Garden

[MyShadowLove]

My husband and I are planning to plant a Butterfly Bush in our front landscaped area...We went to our local Garden Center and they recommended the Pugster Butterfly Bush...It will grow from 24" to 36" which would be a good size for where it will be planted, so this would be considered a Dwarf Butterfly Bush...We were told that they require very little care and will bloom from Spring until the Frost.

However, when I checked online, I read where they can also become invasive so we are now considering whether to get another type of bush?...Does this apply to all Butterfly Bushes?...We will check again with our Garden Center; however, I thought to post here also, so I would love to hear from others who are familiar with the Pugster Butterfly Bushes variety..

Thanks so much!

eta:...We live in the Northeast.

[LindaSal]

We also live in the northeast and when we had our larger home out in the woods we had a butterfly bush.   It was invasive and became huge, not sure what type it was??   At the same time it was beautiful and we always had butterflies around.   If it's a dwarf type then maybe due to that it won't take over other bushes if you don't plant it too close??  Sorry, I'm not much help, DH is the family gardener.  We did love it though and it was easy to care for.  

[spumoni99]

Years ago we had one in our yard and it became huge, sorry I don't know what kind it was.  I had to cut it down it took over.

[quilter61]

I bought the dwarf pugster blue butterfly bush last year.  It stayed small.  Not invasive in my are (PA)  In fact I purchased another one this year for a whiskey barrel that I have in my front yard.   

In the past I have had the larger butterfly bushes and they do get very large.  I love watching all the butterflies that come to these plants.

[jlkz]

Most of the butterfly bushes I've seen over the years are overgrown with branches that sprawl all over.  They wouldn't look nice in a front yard that is well landscaped.

I would place it in the back, but not near stairways as the branches could hang over or grow into the stairs.

Pencil or Sky Hollie's are great for tight places and can be kept in a short or tall column with blocking out the sun for any plants in front of it that need more light.

[fthunt]

Check out Sand Cherry - beautiful pink buds in Spring.

A bush but will grow to 7 f t  if  you let it.

My gardener considers BB a  weed.

[Winkk]

If it's  a dwarf bush it should be fine.  I have a regular size and it does get big but we trim it back every year.  I like it.

[Skyegirl21]

The newer varieties are not invasive and yours is a dwarf so it shouldn't get unwieldy- 

Ilove them and have many! They bloom summer till frost, bring in butterflies and critters don't eat them (mostly)- Go for it! 

[Icegoddess]

Dwarf should be fine.  I've not found them to be invasive and I lost one 2 years ago when we had a very warm fall and then a sudden freeze.  A lot of people lost established plantings with that freeze.  One of my camellias was actually blooming, a spring bloomer, at the time of the freeze.  I also lost my Confederate Jasmine. 

I still have the remaining dwarf butterfly bush, but it tends to die back pretty severely in winter.  And I'm in zone 7b.  

[MyShadowLove]

@LindaSal @spumoni99 @quilter61 @jlkz @fthunt @Winkk

 @Skyegirl21 @Icegoddess... 

Thank you so very much for taking the time to share your experience and opinions about the Butterfly Bushes...It has been very helpful...We have decided to go ahead and get one; however we will place it along our treeline in our backyard area instead so, if it does decide to become invasive, there is plenty of room for it to display itself...It will be a fun and enjoyable experiment of sorts.

As far as our landscaped front area, we already have a beautiful pink spirea that has established itself there and we decided to let it be...I got the idea of maybe transplanting it in another area alongside our home where we have an older spent bush that needs to be replaced, but it just doesn't make sense to disturb our beautiful Spirea...Silly me...what was I thinking?...It is a beautiful display where it is.

Thanks so much again...very much appreciated!