Well, never mind. I ended up buying two more Bobo hydrangea to offer more congruity to the area. That Peacock BB is still in the area so I'll get to enjoy those blooms right there by the Lamb's ear :0)

I'm going to disagree....just watering a plant will not defend against drying winds.....especially in winter. There's nothing dryer than a winter wind. Let's examine one other surface that we know well of the drying affects of wind. Our skin....is one of the most dry surfaces that we are constantly aware of.....and we spend billions of dollars on lotions to help prevent its affects. Yet, we probably put loads of water onto ourselves with shower, and baths and otherwise. Then we rub the lotion on. So I say again....watering doesn't defend against wind. Sure, it can help a plant to not dry out...but that's the roots job.....sending moisture up into the leaves. In the meantime, the wind is doing its best to dry them out. Showering a plant with water wont do much to allay wind damage....in fact, water on some plants' leaves is what we don't want. (roses come to mind) Build the wind barrier and use it whenever (wherever) wind can affect your plants.

It's a Lythrum of some sort. It could possibly be Lythrum virgatum 'Morden Pink' or a similar variety. If you look closely, you can see that the individual flowers have the wrong shape to be a Salvia of any kind.

I had a Royal Red butterfly bush that developed a white fungus looking stuff at the base of the plant one year during the spring and summer, and it was dead by fall, as I remember. We had had a very wet spring and summer that year, and this bush was planted in a spot where it was crowded and didn't get much air flow. Since many fungus diseases develop under wet, still air conditions, I assumed this was the cause. I never knew the name of the fungus, so, like you, I looked up fungus and fungus on butterfly bushes, but never found a picture or description that really matched it. Since that time, I planted an Ellen's Blue in a raised bed in my garden - buddleias won't survive the winters, even down here unless you plant them in a raised bed or on a very well drained site, because they can't stand the wetness of our winters. This site is airy and not crowded, and the bush has thrived, being healthy and making lots of flowers. So, if I were you, I'd plant any future butterfly bushes on a well drained, uncrowded site, and I wouldn't mulch it with leaves piled up on the base of the trunk, which I figure you might have done trying to protect it from Zone5 cold. Sherry