Button Bush Has Gorgeous Blooms
Buttonbush is a pretty shrub with glossy foliage and one-inch, round clusters of cream-colored flowers that ripen into achenes. It's related to the coffee bush and is also called the buttonwillow or honeybells. It has oval leaves that grow opposite on the stem or in whorls.
Butterflies Love Button Bush
Butterflies adore the nectar found in the button bush's flowers, and it's a mainstay in butterfly gardens. Deer are also fond of the leaves, and bees make honey from the nectar. When the achenes, or seeds, arrive, they are avidly eaten by birds.
Buttonbush is found from Quebec and down to central Mexico. There are some populations of the shrub in California and Arizona. It's an understory plant that prefers to grow beneath taller trees.
Zone: 2 to 10
Mature Height: Three to 20 feet tall
Mature Width: Three to ten feet
Growth/year: 1 foot per year
Sunlight: Partial shade
Soil conditions: Moist to wet
Botanical name: Cephalanthus occidentalis
