Gardening for the Record: Blue Butterflies in the garden

“Separating a clump of plants is the only time you can divide and multiply at the same time.” This anonymous quote in garden guru Felder Rushing’s “Slow Gardening” is a reminder that time is approaching for propagating plants, especially the spring bloomers.

This quote and prolific blooms on my Blue Butterfly Bush are all the prompting needed to start taking cuttings for next year.

Blue Butterfly Bush (Clerodendrum ugandense) gets its name from the flowers. Each bloom has four light blue side petals that resemble butterfly wings, a fifth dark blue lower petal that resembles butterfly head, thorax and abdomen), and showy, curved, outward-arching, purple stamens similar to butterfly antennae.

Although not hardy here (it is Zone 10-11), it thrives in the summer and is worth the effort to either take the plant indoors for winter or to take cuttings or divisions.

Also called Blue Glory Bower and Blue Wing Bush, it is another of those unusual plants discovered at Blossomberry Nursery at Clarksville several years ago. Then owner Stan Brown had a knack for finding plants that take your breath away.

For a couple of years, I simply moved the plant in its container into the basement when temperatures approached freezing. But last fall, I took four cuttings, rooted them in water, transplanted them into soil and treated as houseplants.

This spring the transplants were added to a new garden along a fence and all did well, despite July’s long drought and August’s and September’s dry spells and rain deluges. One, however, out-performed the mother plant with a profusion of long stems flaunting incredible blooms.

Frequent visitors include bees and butterflies, as well as an occasional hummingbird.

So, in the next few days I will be taking lots of cuttings to pass along at the Pollinator Arts and Crafts Festival on Saturday, Oct. 6, at the Learning Fields at Chaffee Crossing. Thanks to friend and Confederate Rose expert Joe Irwin, my sister and I will also be taking cuttings from his Confederate Rose Bush to pass along. If you want cuttings of either of these plants, email or send me a note with your name and I will reserve one for you to pick up at the festival. The cuttings will need to be rooted (either in water or soil) and cared for over winter and planted next spring.

One Blue Butterfly Bush will be left outside to test its hardiness for our Zone 7. Some Zone 8-9 gardeners say it will freeze back to the ground, but roots survive and send up new stems in the spring.

Blue Butterfly Bush grows in most soils but performs best in loamy, light soil. It should be watered thoroughly twice a week and fertilized twice a month during the growing season. It prefers high humidity but tolerated our 2018 summer. It grows in full sun to partial shade.

This bush can reach a gangly 10 feet but normally gets only two to four feet in this region and blooms more or less continuously throughout summer and fall. It has beautiful egg-shaped leaves that are fairly resistant to bugs.

It can be pruned at any time since it flowers on the current season’s growth. To encourage flowering, old wood can be cut back to a pair of buds.

Mine have had no serious insect or disease problems. While it can attract the usual aphids, mealybugs or spider mites, I have not found any on my bushes.

One of the benefits of this plant is its ease to propagate — from stem or root cuttings, or from rooted suckers. Here are instructions for rooting this plant: Dip the bottom of the cutting in hormone rooting powder, and place in container of potting mix with the leaves just above soil level. Water, cover with a clear plastic bag, and place in a warm, bright place, out of direct sunlight. Remove the bag a couple times a week for a little while for ventilation.

Or you can use my easy method: place cutting in jar of water; once the stem has rooted, plant in potting soil and treat as a houseplant until next spring.

A tropical native of Africa, its genus name is reportedly a Latinization of the Malaysian words cheriga meaning “small” and thekku meaning “teak,” according to the Missouri Botanical Garden website. The specific epithet comes from the French word myriades meaning “ten thousand” and a Latinization of the Greek word oides meaning “to see.”

Although a bit confusing, there is another plant called true blue butterfly bush. It is Buddleia davidii, a beautiful, fast-growing, deciduous shrub with masses of blossoms from summer to autumn. Also called “summer lilac,” flowers can be lavender, pink, white, blue and dark purple. Despite its “butterfly” name, Buddleia is not a “host plant” that supports butterfly reproduction and lifecycle but does produce nectar for adult butterflies. And, it is easy to grow here.

Next week, the topic will be: moonflowers and roses.

Lucy Fry of Fort Smith is a level 4 Master Gardener and writes the area Master Gardener newsletter. Her column, Gardening for the Record, runs weekly in the Times Record. Send questions to GardeningForTheRecord@gmail.com.