Hello Tiffy,Doris, Nan, and Token. Thanks for your help with this problem. Token, thanks for your details, you seen to have been down this path before. I will set them to root tomorrow and hope my DH can help them through my absence. Our sister is very ill and needs help and my turn is coming up, so I'll be away. I'll have to root them indoors because we expect our first hard frost tonight. Otherwise, I'll see if my neighbour can get more cuttings in the spring. The shrub belongs to one of her co-workers, so she went to a lot of trouble to get these for me. If they don't grow, at least they made a lovely addition to my Thanksgiving (Canadian) bouquet. What a lovely fragrance. Northerner.

Should be starting any day now. Did they remain evergreen? Putting a banana peel at the base, lightly covered with leaves or mulch might get it kickin' but these shrubs need no special care except deadheading once you start getting flowers that have gone over, water if wilted. In 20 years, I've never fertilized a BB. When you feel like trimming it some, stick the pieces in the ground where you want new ones, keep an eye that it doesn't dry out until growing/established. They are not long-lived individuals, so backups are a good idea. You can also start them in a pot if you can keep them from baking too dry, but I think it's easier to not have to move them later.

Hmmmm. What cultivars did you get, Bizydiggin? Some are dwarf cultivars, and others are not. If you got any of the Nanho series, they are dwarf for sure. I wouldn't plant them up against your house for sure. They have a pretty good spread as well as height on them. Also, butterfly bushes should not be trimmed back until early spring, unless you have the species B. alternifolia, B. asiatica, B. colvilei or B. globosa. The most common cultivars are out of the species B. davidii, like 'Pink Delight', 'Dark Knight', 'White Profusion', 'Royal Red'. These get very tall and have a good spread on them as well. They only bloom on new wood, which is why you don't want to trim them back until early spring. You can probably trim them during the summer, but you will have to wait until new growth appears for flowers. You won't want to stimulate new growth any later than the end of August, though, because they may be winter killed. I might add that the cultivar 'Royal Red' is said to attract hummingbirds as well. Swallowtail butterflies LOVE these bushes, too. Susan

Hard to tell what they are from this distance, I'd guess the 1st is Carnosa, the 2nd either that or maybe a Pubicalyx. What info is the seller offering pls? Seems to me they'd have something to say esp. for plants this large, where'd they come from &why they're being sold, etc?