Butterfly Bush appears dead

[oldnslo]

Does anyone else have a Butterfly Bush that is not showing any new growth yet? Ours is three years old and last two years it was 6 foot tall and blossomed out real nice. It was trimmed back last fall after a killing frost just like previous years. Wife wants to dig it out but I am trying to convince her that these are slow starters and the cool late spring has set it back just like everything else. Am I being optimistic that it will sprout this late?

TIA

 

[rekees4300]

Have the same problem but lately it seems to be sprouting from the bottom again so I'm just going wait until next year to see if it survives.

 

[MoKelly]

We lost ours here in Missouri. There was no doubt it was dead. You can break off a branch or two and get a good idea. Seems to me if there is no sign of lile by mid June its not very promising.

MoKelly

 

[KubotainNH]

Like Rekees, ours is sprouting from the bottom. The trimmed branches have nothing on them. I thought it was just ours, maybe the hard winter did something.

 

[sklunk]

Ours did the same. Talked to the local Penn State Ag Extension office and they said that the hard winter did most of them in (at least here in the mid-atlantic).

The wife is going to live with it this year but already told me she wants to replace it in the fall!

 

[vabiker23518]

Ditto here in Virginia too. Ours always grows to about 8' tall and we cut it back to the ground each fall. This year its really thin and only about 4' tall so far. Guess the cold played havoc with them.