Buttonbush, Bare Root

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis)

A wet-site shrub for pond margins, rain gardens, and stream buffers. It belongs where moisture collects, with enough sunlight to encourage its distinctive round flower clusters.

Key Characteristics

Summer nectar at the water's edge

Eastern tiger swallowtails, bees, and hummingbirds visit the flowers. Plant where those visitors can feed without being exposed to insecticide drift.

Keep the seed heads

Flower clusters mature into firm, rounded heads containing small seeds. Songbirds and waterfowl use this food, so leave spent heads standing.

Match it to a wet position

This is a useful choice for seasonally flooded ground and stormwater plantings. It is a poor match for a dry slope that cannot be watered.

Product Details

• Native range: Much of eastern and southern North America
• Life cycle: Deciduous woody perennial
• Sun: Full Sun; Part Sun/Shade
• Soil moisture: Medium-Wet; Wet
• Mature height: 5–12 feet
• Bloom: June–July–August–September
• Bloom color: White, Cream
• USDA hardiness zones: 5–9
• Fruit or seed: Rounded seed heads provide food for songbirds and waterfowl; not a human food crop.
• Pollination: Flowers are visited by insects; no named pollination partner is required for a habitat planting.

Planting and Ongoing Care

Keep bare roots moist until planting, water the root zone during establishment, and mulch without covering the crown. Base fertilizer on a soil test; our Tree Planting Kit fertilizer blend can be used according to its label when feeding is needed.

Serious pest problems are uncommon. Diagnose dry-soil stress before treating leaf decline. Avoid insecticides on open flowers. Seed-grown plants vary in growth, flowering, and fruiting.