Viv, Did you find an answer to your question? I can't tell much form the picture you provided, but it looks a little like the stems of your "shrub" are totally green and herbaceous. The main reason you haven't received responses is that your post is in a rather obscure sub-forum with very little traffic. I bet if you posted better pictures (if you have them...I know it's too late to go outside and take them now) and posted them to a regular discussions forum (maybe the main Shrubs Forum), you'd get quick answers.

silverneedle, just out of curiosity, why are you contemplating buying this particular butterfly bush? I don't know what part of the country you live in, but butterfly bushes have become so popular in recent years with such a profusion of outstanding new cultivars that in most places south of Zone 4 or 5 one can't hardly walk five feet at a garden center without bumping into some kind of butterfly bush or other. And a lot of them are big-ish plants with blue-ish flowers. So there doesn't appear to be anything special about the one at Gurney's, and I don't see why you would choose to purchase an unnamed variety from a mail-order nursery that's mediocre at best, and borderline disreputable. Frankly, if it were me, and I was going to buy a blue butterfly bush through the mail, I'd rather pay more for a nice 'Blue Chip' from Plant Delights than a get-what-you-pay-for special from Gurney's. But it's up to you. As for its identity, obviously it's hard to say for sure from their description and photo, and that may be a red flag in and of itself. There are so many named varieties of buddleia nowadays that if they're not even bothering to promote a cultivar name for it, that ought to tell you something. wonbyherwitz mentioned a couple of the nicer blue-flowered butterfly bush varieties in the trade, and I would add a plug for my personal favorite, which is one called 'Ellen's Blue.' And for all we know, the ones that Gurney's is selling could be one of these varieties, but it's not clear. For what it's worth, from my experience in the nursery industry I would think it's unlikely that Gurney's is selling variable seedling butterfly bushes, as clematisintegrifolia suggested. Buddleias can definitely be grown from seed, but at least east of the Rockies, that's not usually the most efficient way of mass-producing them in a nursery setting. Their stem cuttings root so readily and grow so rapidly that that's almost always how they're grown except for breeding situations. So, rather than seedlings, I would surmise that Gurney's may have one or more big, old blue-flowered butterfly bushes that they use as stock plants and take a bazillion cuttings from every year. It could very well be that those old plants either don't have a cultivar name, or it's long-forgotten. So what they're selling may still be asexually propagated, but just not a named variety. But it's hard to know for sure. Have you tried calling Gurney's and asking them the identity of their butterfly bushes?

Have you seen Butterflies nectaring from them at lower height? I've had them in the back of my mind since I don't have space in sun for the larger ones including the "dwarf" English series. I have one true white dwarf in a container that's doing very well. Blooms were small but plentiful last year. Regular sized red one that I put in large container last year only has new growth on one side. It was a cheap roadside stand purchase just to have blossoms for Butterflies. If the Blue Chip is successful for drawing in Butterflies it would be a boon for me. I like to see photos from "real life" in addition to catalogue photos so I can get a better idea of what things really look like when planted. Thanks.

Well, guess what happened to me today while wandering around the local Home Depot? Yes, I actually spotted an Ellen's Blue butterfly bush in a 5-gallon container. And guess what I did then. Right! I bought it and have been wondering where I will plant it now. And that is not an easy thing to do since I have a .07 acre lot which has a two bedroom house which is now surrounded by no less than 30 buddleias, at least 17 lantanas or more, a large coffeeberry(Rhamnus californica), a ceanothus, countless asclepias plants, tall verbenas, asters, buckwheats, centranthus rubers, hollyhocks, passionvines galore and pipe vines literally colonizing parts of the yard on three sides and I must not forget to mention 5 potted willows, two of which have established themselves and are huge and two full-size birch trees. And if I were not trying to do this count from memory I would probably have to count more plants in the inventory. Like I forgot the huge salvia guaranitica and the hebe speciosa. But I simply could not walk by a find like that. I mean who woulda' thunk you would find one of those Ellen's Blue at a Home Depot. And by the way, the tag says 36" to 48" by 36 " to 48". So we will see what happens. Perhaps I need a support group for plant-a-holics. Murray