Type

Shrub · Perennial

Botanical family

Mixed / other

Foliage color

Green

Flower color

White

Sunlight

Full sun to part shade

Watering

High; the wet spot by the downspout is its idea of luxury

Soil

Wet to ordinary; stands in shallow water happily

Feeding

Gentle all-organic

USDA zones

5a–10a

Frost tolerant

Yes

Plant out

at the last spring frost

Plant spacing

6 ft 7 in

In-row spacing

4 ft 11 in

Between rows

8 ft 2 in

Square-foot density

Not suited to SFG

Root system

Woody and fibrous

Working depth

12–24 in

Can reach

3 ft down where the soil allows

Spread

12–16 ft across, about 1.5–2× the width of the plant

Shallowest pot

20 in of soil

A shallow woody framework with the fine feeding roots in the leaf litter above it. Those feeders are mostly under the outer half of the canopy rather than against the stem, which is where water and feed should go.

The habit is Buttonbush’s own; the figures are what that habit usually comes to at this size, not a measurement of this species. Roots follow the soil either way: a compacted pan, a high water table or heavy clay stops them well short of any of it, and deep open ground lets them go further.

When

Not harvested. Renewal-prune in early spring, before growth starts.

What to look for

The shrub gone leggy and bare at the knees, which it does every few years.

How to harvest

It blooms on new wood, so cut the whole plant back to 15–30 cm in March and it rebuilds and flowers the same July. In between, take a third of the oldest stems at the base.

How often

A hard renewal every three to five years, or a light thin annually.

Storing the crop

Nothing to store. Leave the button seed heads standing: ducks and songbirds work them all winter.

• Generally trouble-free No notable pest or disease problems when grown in the right conditions — one of the easy ones.