Conocarpus Species, Button Mangrove, Silver Buttonwood

A very popular shrub/small tree in West Palm Beach, FL. The foliage is bluish silver or silvery blue, and stands out from its green surro...Read Moreundings.

A tough adaptable shrub, very tolerant of drought and salt. Adaptable as to soil type and pH. Responds well to shearing. Performs well under difficult urban conditions. Also excellent for seaside plantings.

It can grow to over 60' tall. The US champion is 35'. But in the cultivated landscape it's generally a shrub under 12'.

Sooty mold is caused by the presence of honeydew produced by sucking insects. It's treated by treating the insect problem.

I live in Southwest Florida, Zone 10B. We have several Silver Buttonwoods planted around our air conditioning unit. They have been there ...Read Moresince 2008. This year they have started losing leaves. They have lost so many now they are not doing what we wanted, which is to hide the a/c unit.

Any ideas as to why this is happening or what we can do to correct it are much appreciated.

I live in north east Florida. The first year was great- the buttonwood flourished like crazy and survived a relatively cold winter for t...Read Morehis area. However this winter, which was extremely mild- maybe hit 38 degrees for 2 nights, then back to the 50's sometimes 40's, the buttonwood just died. All the leaves turned brown and hard then fell off. So disappointed since it was gorgeous- about 4-5 ft in width- and beautiful.

I cut it all back and hoping for regrowth. However, I see no signs of new growth and it's been pretty warm here for over a month. Everything else is in bloom. WILL this come alive again????

Thanks
Kathy

I was told by a Master Gardener that Silver Buttonwood could be called another mangrove. I put them around the overflow to my salt water...Read More pool because I was told they would not be harmed by the occasional overflow of salt water. However, they are susceptible to sooty mold. I was told to use copper fungicide 1/2 tsp to a quart of water in a spray bottle. Spray the affected leaves. Also, always water the plant from below, avoiding water on the leaves. I live in South Florida so it gets plenty of humidity from nature here. Since the plants have only been in for a couple of weeks I have yet to see if what I was told is really going to work on these plants but so far, I love the added color and texture to my plant beds.