The "Fall Focal Point" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Fall is just around the corner and summer bloomers are starting to wind down but, birds and other wildlife continue to need sustenance from plants.  Fortunately, buttonbush is filling their needs.  Buttonbush is sometimes referred to as honey balls and is the last to leaf out in spring and the last summer-flowering shrub to bloom in the garden.  It makes for its tardiness with its unique clusters of spherical, white blossoms that resemble golf-ball sized Sputnick satellites.  Set against the plant's glossy, dark-green foilage, they are truly otherworldly.  The shrub is native to eastern Canada and the continental United States, from Maine to Florida and west to the Great Plains, with some occurrences in the Southwest and California, as well as Cuba and Central America. In these areas it can be found growing wild near lakes and ponds, sometimes in standing water, and under large shrubs and trees in forests.  Its seeds, fruit and nectar feed dozens of bird species, including hummingbirds and waterfowl, butterflies, moths, bumble bees, honey bees and smaller native bees.  Some mammals, such as beavers, feed on the plant's stems and leaves, yet it is considered somewhat resistant to deer browsing.  The plant is hardy in horticultural zones 5 through 9 or 10 and thrives in full sun, part-sun, part-shade and shade, although blooming is best in sunnier spots.  It is an excellent substitute for the invasive butterfly bush which, despite appearing well-behaved in your home garden, invariably escapes via seeds spread by wind, water and birds to choke out native species in wild areas.  Because it's such a champ in waterlogged areas, buttonbush can also be used in rain gardens and put to work to control erosion in soggy sites.  In midsummer, the irregular-shaped, multi-stemmed shrub's arching, upright branches produce sweetly fragrant "button" or "honey ball" flowers that give way to knobby, green berries, which mature to red in autumn.  Those eye-catching fruits hold on long after the plant's leaves drop and persist through winter, or at least until migrating birds take advantage of them to fuel their journey.  Waterfowl and shorebirds enjoy them, also.  Usually topping out at 6-12 feet tall, common buttonbush can reach twice that height.  To contain its size and encourage better blooming, prune each branch by a third in late winter or very early spring before new growth begins, giving careful thought to creating your desired shape.  It will more than likely grow to 3 feet by the end of the summer.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.   

Buttonbush or Honey Balls

Dwarf Cephanlanthus "Sugar Shack" plant