Buttonbush
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Cephalanthus occidentalis
Buttonbush is a wonderful deciduous shrub that grows anywhere from 6 to 12 feet tall, and in some cases, it can even reach up to 20 feet! It has a charming, multi-branched structure with a rounded, open habit, often showcasing crooked and leaning branches along with irregular crowns that give it character. You’ll love the clusters of fragrant white flowers that look just like pincushions, with their lovely tubular, five-lobed petals. These beautiful flowers come in dense, spherical heads about 1.5 inches in diameter, attracting delightful visitors like hummingbirds, butterflies, and other friendly insect pollinators. Once the flowers fade, they make way for intriguing, hard, spherical fruits that resemble little balls packed with tiny, two-seeded nutlets. These cute fruiting heads often stick around throughout the winter, adding interest to the landscape.
The glossy, bright green leaves of the buttonbush are oval to elliptical, about 6 inches long, and usually appear in pairs or whorls as they emerge late in spring. The name "buttonbush" comes from the Greek words "kephale," meaning "head," and "anthos," meaning "flower." Not only is buttonbush a striking ornamental plant that thrives in wet soils, but it’s also highly valued for providing nectar to honeybees. You can often spot this lovely plant in a variety of habitats here in Texas, from moist open areas and low woods to thickets, swamps, upland sinkhole ponds, river bottomlands, and along the edges of streams and ponds. Ducks, water birds, and shorebirds also enjoy feasting on the seeds of the buttonbush, adding to its charming role in nature.
Height: 5’-12'
Spread: 4’-8'
Bloom: June
Light: Full Sun-Part Sun
Water: Medium-High
Zone: 5-9
Origin: Texas, Midwest
Spring Shipping:
Orders are shipped within 10-15 business days. We will email you if there are expected delays.
When you order plants from our nursery, you can expect them to arrive in the best possible condition. Our team carefully packs each order using sturdy, biodegradable packaging materials.
Your plants' appearance may vary depending on the season and their current growth stage. We may cut back the leafy growth of some plants to prepare them for shipment and transplanting.
5 Gallon and Up: Any plant purchased to ship over 5 Gallons will be shipped bare root. This means we will remove the plant from its original pot, remove the soil surrounding the roots, and wrap the roots with a biodegradable plastic bag. This reduces weight and the likelihood of damage during shipping.
Once your plants arrive, it is essential to plant them as soon as possible. This will help them rebound and thrive. If you cannot plant immediately, water regularly and keep the roots off heat-conducting surfaces.
Newly transplanted plants often require more water until their roots are well established. Plan to water them 1-3 times weekly for the first few months.
Pairs well with
Customer Reviews
Overall rating: 5.0 / 5 from 10 reviews.
Plants arrived in excellent condition. Took them out of the packaging immediately. Watered them and planted them within 48 hours. About a week later and they seem to be acclimating well. Excited to watch them grow and see what wildlife comes to visit.
The leaves are beautiful. Unfortunately the dogs dug it up so it is in shock. Put little fences around plants! It needs a lot of water so far to get rooted in. I think it will survive.
This was the first time I’ve ordered plants from Native Gardener’s, and I’m glad I did! Buttonbush is not a plant you’ll find at local nurseries or big box hardware store parking lots. They arrived healthy and undamaged, and were very well packed for shipment. The plants are vigorous and strong, and were very reasonably priced. I hope Native Gardeners continues to expand its offerings for native plants such as these that are not easy to find, as I will gladly be a repeat customer!
Our 5 gallon button bushes were absolutely beautiful. Extremely happy with the quality of the plants ordered and the reasonable price! Will definitely be ordering from Native again.
Beautiful plant. Tall and all the leaves are perfect. Arrived in great shape and planted yesterday.
Beautiful healthy plants. Packed with love. Highly recommend!
Excellent Buttonbush specimen. I bought three 50-gallon plants. They looked substantial in newly developed wet areas of our landscape. Can wait for June for them to start blooming!
It's nice to find native plants in an affordable size. Thank you for a great online shopping experience.
I bought 2 of the Button Bushes and they are just as described. Packed well and arrived in perfect condition.
Ordered in July---arrived growing and never looked back---very pleased
