Digging deeperPlant Library

Other Names:  Silver Fountain Butterfly Bush

Description:

A sizeable garden shrub with showy purple-blue flowers that attracts butterflies; blooms on old wood so only prune after flowering; a very graceful habit of growth, cascading silvery leaves draped with blooms

Ornamental Features

Argentea Alternate Leaf Butterfly Bush features showy panicles of fragrant lavender flowers with blue overtones at the ends of the branches from early to late summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has dark green foliage with silver undersides. The fuzzy narrow leaves do not develop any appreciable fall color.

Landscape Attributes

Argentea Alternate Leaf Butterfly Bush is an open multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This is a high maintenance shrub that will require regular care and upkeep, and should only be pruned after flowering to avoid removing any of the current season's flowers. It is a good choice for attracting bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Argentea Alternate Leaf Butterfly Bush is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Argentea Alternate Leaf Butterfly Bush will grow to be about 8 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It tends to be a little leggy, with a typical clearance of 2 feet from the ground, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.

This shrub should only be grown in full sunlight. It prefers to grow in average to dry locations, and dislikes excessive moisture. It is not particular as to soil type or pH, and is able to handle environmental salt. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Argentea Alternate Leaf Butterfly Bush makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.

Note:

1998 'PLANT SELECT' Winner.