Plant sales are closed for the season. Thank you to all of our wonderful customers for making this a successful and fulfilling year! We are now offering garden design services. Book a consultation now and start planning your spring pollinator garden! We are excited to help you create your beautiful garden! Come back January 1st to see our new inventory for 2025.



Buttonbush - Cephalanthus occidentalis

Regular price $54.00

Shipping calculated at checkout.

Phonetic: sef-ah-LAN-thus ock-sih-den-TAH-liss

Shrubs larger than 1 gallon can not be shipped.

Most shrubs will not be ready before the first week of June when they are fully leafed out.

2 Gallon Pot 

Buttonbush is a somewhat coarse, deciduous shrub with an open-rounded habit. It is common in wet open areas, low woods, thickets, swamps, and stream/pond margins. Tiny, tubular, fragrant white flowers appear in dense, spherical, long-stalked flower heads. Long, projecting styles give the flower heads a distinctively pincushion-like appearance. Flower heads are very attractive to hummingbirds, butterflies, and other insect pollinators. Flower heads mature into hard spherical ball-like fruits consisting of multiple tiny two-seeded nutlets. Fruiting heads usually persist throughout the winter. Button bush serves as a host plant for some of our largest and showiest moths including the titan sphinx, the hydrangea sphinx and the royal walnut moth.

  • Hardiness Zone:  5-9
  • Native Northeast Region: USDA Database
  • Sun Exposure:  Full sun to partial shade
  • Flower Color: White
  • Bloom Time: June, July, August
  • Soil Type: Medium to Wet
  • Mature Plant Size: 6-12' Height, 4-8' Wide
  • Plant Spacing:  6'
  • Host Plant:  Titan Sphinx, Hydrangea Sphinx, Royal Walnut
  • Attracts:  Hummingbirds, Butterflies, Bees
  • Advantages:  Nectar source is loved by all things winged
  • Landscape Uses:  Pond side, Erosion control
  • Companion Plants:  Swamp Azelia, Swamp Rose Mallow, Viburnums, Milkweeds
  • Deer Resistant