25
Tried planting butterfly bushes last spring in my backyard near Lakewood...
I put in three butterfly bushes last May along my fence line hoping for some color, but they grew to over 10 feet tall in just one season and flopped over onto my neighbor's side. Now I have to dig them out and start over with something shorter. Anyone else have bushes get out of control like that around here?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
the_jade25d ago
My neighbor three doors down planted one by his garage in 2022 and it went straight through his gutters by August. He ended up having to cut it down to a stump and it still sent shoots up through the lawn for two more years. I tried a dwarf variety called 'Blue Chip' a few years ago because it says it only gets 3 feet tall, and it still hit 5 feet in my front yard by the sidewalk. The roots on these things are crazy too, I dug one out last fall and the root ball was the size of a basketball. Honestly I think the soil around here is just too good for them, they love it and just explode.
6
dakota78725d ago
Double down on what you said about the roots... I swear they know exactly where the water pipes are. My brother had a Leyland cypress about 15 feet from his foundation, and within three years it was sending roots right into his sewer line. Cost him like 2 grand to dig it all up and replace the pipe. And yeah, the soil thing is real too. I think the nursery tags are total lies when it comes to height, especially if you've got any kind of decent dirt. Even those compact varieties just say screw it and go wild.
-3