It was a rough winter for butterfly bushes. I lost half my collection including my beloved ‘Honeycomb’. And the plants that did survive were knocked back severely. By now I usually have plants that are 6- to 10-feet tall with flowers that have been appearing since early July.
This year my tallest butterfly bush tops out at 3 feet, and some haven’t even put out a single bloom yet. ‘Butterfly Heaven’ finally made an appearance last week. So far that cultivar has been the most reliable of all the butterfly bushes I’ve ever grown.
Not only have the butterfly bush flowers been scarce, but so have the butterflies. This time of year my flowerbeds are usually alive with Red Admirals, Monarchs, Great-Spangled Fritillaries, Clouded Sulphurs, Gray Hairstreaks, Painted Ladies and Peck’s Skippers, not to mention Yellow and Black Swallowtail butterflies.
This summer I’ve seen 2 swallowtails and a handful of Cabbage Whites. That’s it. A local entomologist says the butterflies were wiped out by last year’s drought. My flowerbeds just aren’t the same without them.
Usually my butterfly bushes start winding down in September. I never knew if that was because they were pooped out from blooming all summer or if it was because of changing temperatures and light conditions. I guess I’ll find out in September. Perhaps this year I’ll only get a few weeks of blooms before they shut down and prepare for another long winter.