A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Butterfly bushes

Hi!
I am new to this list and NEW to gardening. I do not have a green thumb, but wish I did. Anyway, we have been in our new home for a couple of years now and I still have not planted anything, but this is the year. I would love to have some butterfly bushes, but I do not now if they would look good in this space and/or how many I should plant in this space.


The area I have is right in front of my home. It is 26 ft long, it extends from my cement sidewalk to my brick front stoop. The width of the area is 6 ft wide. It extends from my cement sidewalk to the front of my house. Windows are not a problem. The garage is on the first floor and there are no windows. My living room is on top of the garage.

I hope this question makes since and thanks for any help or advice.

Ronda

Hi Ronda welcome to the forum !!!
Is there anything else at all planted in the area and what type of sun exposure do you have?

With windows are you thinking as for an indoor plant.. ?

I know butterfly bushes can get tall, so I was explaining that they would not block any of our windows in the house.

The area is bare. I looks like a big empty flower bed.
The area gets full sun.

Thank You

Ohh Ronda you can pretty much chop em down pretty good every year.. you can keep them as big or small as you want they are forgiving..
are you trying to accomplish a butterfly garden or do you just like the bush?? What colors are you interested in if you want to make it a big garden area?
Rita

Rhonda,

You will want a variety of plants that bloom at different times. I would suggest 3-4 butterfly bushes spaced out. Add some evergreens such as hollies, bowwood, false cypress and / or azaleas. Also, for summer color, plant perennials such as purple coneflower, black-eyed susans, daisies. For spring color next year, plant some bulbs along the front edge.

WV has many great perennials growing in waste places that love full sun. Transplant some to your home as you find desirable ones.

carefull some plants are illegal to take out of the wild..

I am not sure if this space is by a door but if so be careful. Butterfly bushes attract bees as well as butterflys. I had one a few feet from our front door......it got to the point where we couldnt go out the door without bees swarming. It was right in front of our water spicket.....Turning on the water was a dangeroud job.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I just "bit the bullet" and purchased 3 butterfly bushes. I am not home that much and when I am I am chasing after a 4 year old. So, I just wanted something easy and colorfull. Plus, I can kill plastic flowers!

I was happy with my decision until I read Karrie's post! UGHHHHH

Oh well, I will hope for the best

Thanks again, Ronda

Yes, you cannot remove plants from parks and such. When I mentioned waste places, I was referring to sites such as reclaimed strip mines; pull-offs where green waste & unusable soil are dumped; empty fields behind strip malls; etc.

Also, BOXWOOD not bowwood