I finally did it, killed my Butterfly bushes, on purpose. I know it's a noxious weed now, but in my defense I planted them long ago before anyone thought they would be a problem. I tried to keep up with deadheading them last year, but it was just more work then I can do regularly, I admit it. Last winter's cold killed them to ground, they didn't even resprout till about a month ago and they were only about 3 feet tall, so I had gotten used to the idea of them being gone, but I still am a little sad. I do hope they can make a truly sterile hybrid some day. I still think they wouldn't get out of control in my area, because the cold is too hard on them, but I know the seeds can spread up to 40 miles and they might be a problem closer to the water where it's warmer, and that's less than 40 miles away.
I also killed my Spurge Laurel (Daphne laureola), also planted a long time ago before it was known to be a problem. I don't think it spread, but it wasn't that exciting a plant either, so I'm not sad about killing that one.
I'm still fighting the Lord Robert Geranium, but at least I didn't plant that one on purpose! It just appeared 4 years ago.
So my Noxious Weed plants are mostly gone! That does feel good.

Edited by Fern - Sep-03-2009 at 8:13pm

Good for you, Fern! I need to go kill my butterfly bush too. The cold here in Portland didn't seem to phase it at all. It suffers more from lack of water. I thought that would kill it so I have been depriving it of water but I am going to have to chainsaw it.

Fern, I think they are working on sterile forms. Hybrids hold potential. That said, I know that when I talked to a rep for ODA's weed program, he told me that he was having a hard time getting breeding information to show that so-called sterile forms were really and truly sterile. That was months ago and I haven't followed up since.

Instead of looking on this as a loss, consider all the delectable choices you can plant instead!

All I can say is that I hope they learned the lesson of what happened when they released a "sterile" Purple Lossestryfe- it was considered sterile because 90% of the seeds were infertile, but the other 10% were, and the seedligns from that 10% were perfectly fertile in their own right, meaning that though that particular clone didn't spread much, its progeny did.

Unfortunately the research I saw on the hybrids was not promising. The oldest group of ornamental hybrids, a cross between Buddleia davidii and B. globosa (an interesting anomoly in the group, from South America, with orange globular flower clusters, and apparently polinated significantly by hummingbirds in its native range) is not at all sterile. There are one or two Asian species that are much lower in seed viability, so maybe they are trying to out cross those, but my sense from the literature was that the ones that were less likely to spread were also the least ornamental of the group. But who knows? Miracles have happened in breeding before, lol.

I thought I killed my butterfly bush, but I noticed it was blooming today. Albeit it was a lot shorter, but there it was nonetheless. Where's my poison when I need it? Oh wait, I gave that up for lent.

Edited by DebbieTT - Sep-15-2009 at 3:21pm

I think a little more tolerence could be applied here. There are many plants that become noxious weeds when they are moved to another environment. I have had butterfly bushes in my yards for many years. thoughtful pruning and cutting the seed heads of and allow them to mulch at the base of the mother plant keeps them controlled to one area. It is a very attractive, fragrant, butterfly attracting tall shrub. As with people all plants deserve thier place on earth.

lawrence, there are many, many wonderful plants that we can grow that do not pose a threat to our natural environment. Butterfly bush is not one of them. You may prune it at the right time and keep its seeds from maturing and spreading around and it's wonderful that you do. But when you move, will the next homeowner be so diligent? Or what if, heaven forbid, life throws you for a loop and you aren't able to prune your plants at the right time to prevent seeding? Despite our best intentions, seeding will occur. When one flower cluster can produce 40,000 seeds with 90% of them fertile, it doesn't take more than one forgotten pruning to create problems.

The control of noxious weeds is expensive. A few years ago, Tim Butler told me that it cost the State of Oregon $83 million a year to control only a few of the worst noxious weeds. $83 million! And that was a conservative estimate.

Additionally, butterfly bush threatens the existence of butterflies, the very insect that gardeners hope to attract to their gardens with this plant. How can that be? Because while the flowers feed butterfly adults, the plant does not feed the larvae. Butterfly larvae are very particular about what they eat. Eat the wrong thing and they die. Where butterfly bush has invaded natural areas and out-competed native plants that serve as host plants for butterflies, butterfly populations have dwindled.

The bottom line is that the spread of this plant costs us money to control and threatens the wildlife we treasure and need. All plants may deserve a place on earth but that doesn't mean that butterfly bush deserves a place *here*.

Butterfly bush: clipping its wings

Edited by Lisa A - Nov-25-2009 at 8:45pm