Help! I can kill or seriously wound a Butterfly Bush.

I live in zone 8b and they are supposed to be a weed here, but I'm having a lot of trouble. I planted a pink delight BB from a baby. It grew about 1and1/2 ft, tried a couple of blooms which didn't mature. I realized the top of the root ball was sticking out. (This is my 1st year gardening). I fixed that but it still isn't growing, and the big problem now is from the top of the leaf to the bottom right through the middle the leaves are all brown vertically. The very edges and tips are still green the rest brown. Not a dry, crackly brown. Does anyone know what else I'm doing wrong? I hear you can't get rid of these things here, but I can't seem to grow them.

I don't know about the butterfly bushes in your area, but in KY its been a terrible year for them. First we had a devasting cold spell in the spring and afterwards there's hardly any rain.

Can you post a picture? Having brown in the middle of the leaves that's not dry and crackly sounds like probably something fungal, but it's hard to tell without a picture.

If you do get it to grow though PLEASE deadhead it so that it doesn't make seeds, they are a big problem in your area.

My picture taking skills are worse than my gardening, need new camera. This picture is trying show you the brown on the leaves of my butterfly bush. Yes, I will dead head don't want major problems. I spay and neuter too.
Thanks
Vicki

Sorry, can't tell anything from that picture. Maybe someone else will have better eyes than I do though.

Hi Vicki, can you tell us why you are spraying the plant as these plants thrive on neglect, if you are spraying to give it a humid atmosphere, then you will be encorageing fungus to grow on the leaves, If I were you, I would give it a deeper hole and some compost around the roots to retain some moisture, it is still a baby plant so go easy as you dig the larger hole, try to enlarge a circle around it and perhaps try get a little earth from under it, so it will slide further down the hole, then add some compost and plant food like blood/fish and bonemeal to the compost as you refill the hole, do you have it in a sunny area as they like full sun, give it a good drink as you replant it, dont spray it unless you are spraying for fungus, if so, then you need to read the fungusides instructions as you dont normaly have to spray to the extent you are doing, dont spray in sunshine as it will burn the leaves. Hope this helps. WeeNel.

Hi Vicki, I love butterfly bushes, or Buddleja as they're also called, and I have a few just outside my garden on a path at the back. They do self-seed although here that's not too much of a problem. I can't say what the problem with yours is but I did have one that wasn't performing well and I cut it back to almost the ground and it sprouted lots of new leaves and is thriving well now. Perhaps you could cut it back and see what happens? They are very hardy - you often see them growing out of chimneys in derelict buildings or on top of old walls where they can't be getting much in the way of soil or nutrients. I don't think you can really damage it by cutting it back - unless the spots are caused by some kind of infection which I can't give any advice about I'm afraid.

I've got a butterfly bush... something is eating the hell out of it...

vikkijackson, my climate here in Berkeley might be a little closer to yours. I have a yellow one that no matter what I do with it, it blooms every year. In early spring, when I can see my garden more closely, I prune the thing to about 6 or 12 inches. It doesn't even seem to matter. The leaves seem to be curled and ugly (some of them) and that doesn't seem to matter. I think in zones close to ours, there isn't much that can thwart their growth.

Vicki -- have the same issue with my butterfly bush this year. Went on line to Hortsense OSU and WSU and have identified the problem -- it is verticilium wilt -- a very serious disease. You will need to get rid of the plant by burning -- do not compost it. It is a fungus in the soil -- whatever tools you use to take it out will need to be sterilized by bleach water solution. Plant disease resistant species in that spot which include: ash, birch, dogwood, holly, willow oak, juniper, ageratum, impatiens, apple, and conifers. Good luck!

WeeNel:
vickijackson55's comment was SPAY and neuter. A comment on being a responsible pet owner.

I, too, am attempting to grow a butterfly bush for the first time this year. I had great visions of it being the center of my new butterfly/hummingbird garden, but it looks like an abomination. I planted it in early April when it was about 1.5-2 ft. tall. It's still 1.5-2 ft. tall. Some of its leaves are kind of yellowed and funky. I'm about to get disgusted with it, and came close last week to jerking it up by the roots, but I have decided to give it a reprieve. I'll try some of the aforementioned advice to help it along. I'm sure it hasn't helped that my dog has dug it up at least twice!

I think any plant that the dog has dug up twice isn't going to look so great! Your original planting of it in April would have been fine if the plant had been allowed to establish itself and grow, but each time the dog digs it up the plant is stressed and has to start from scratch on getting its roots established, and the warmer the weather is when you re-plant the plant, the harder time it's going to have settling in. I really don't think you should be disgusted with the plant, it hasn't been given a fair chance to thrive. I can't think of too many plants that would look good right now under those circumstances!

Yeah, I guess you're right. It has had a bit of a rough life so far, hasn't it? The heat has been pretty brutal here, too. There's no such thing as a "microwave garden" is there--where one can push a button and poof!--instant garden!! That would do away with most of the fun, wouldn't it? OK, the butterfly bush gets a stay of execution! Any hints on keeping my canine excavator out of the flowers?

If you google "dog repellent" or something like that you'll probably come up with some things--I know there are sprays and things that you can apply that are supposed to make the area less appealing. I've also heard you can sprinkle hot red pepper around and that'll discourage them from coming back. You could also put some chicken wire down across the top of the dirt around the plant, then mulch over that, I don't think he'll enjoy trying to dig through the wire!

I went out this a.m. to check on my butterfly bush and it actually has light purple flowers on it! Woohoo! It must've known that I was not speaking well of it. Looks like it's gotten a toehold after all!

Thanks excellent news - don't they smell wonderful?

Yes, they do. A little hummer that was buzzing around thought so, too. It would fly up, and fly away, fly up and fly away, looking at me as if too say, " Aren't you done yet?! Can't you see I've got stuff to do out here?"