Plant Guide

Other Names:  Button Willow, Honey Bells

Description:

An interesting shrub with most unusual flowers, fuzzy white balls that hang at the end of stalks, makes a good conversation piece when in bloom; otherwise, no spectacular ornamental attributes; an excellent choice for very wet sites

Ornamental Features

Sputnik Button Bush features unusual racemes of shell pink ball-shaped flowers with white overtones along the branches from early to late summer. It has green deciduous foliage which emerges chartreuse in spring. The glossy pointy leaves turn coppery-bronze in fall.

Landscape Attributes

Sputnik Button Bush is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Sputnik Button Bush is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• General Garden Use
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Planting & Growing

Sputnik Button Bush will grow to be about 10 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in moist to wet soil, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selection of a native North American species.