There are a lot of organic insect repellents/killers to chose from. A good full service garden center will have a larger selection of organic insecticides than the box stores and good garden centers have competitive prices. One natural product that comes to mind is diatomaceous earth; made of ground seashells, I believe. It's a white powder, a little messy to apply, but it works especially well for earwigs. It kills the little evil things as they crawl over it on the ground around your plant! I had lots of trouble with earwigs destroying my clematis. I hate those ugly things! Diatomaceous earth is the main ingredient found under many names, so ask at your store. It also works for slugs and snails as well. Buy a larger quantity and and you'll have it a long time. A good organic concentrate will kill the little buggers also, but ask; not all insecticides will kill every bug. Good luck.

I tried it 2 years ago taking one strong stem and train it as standard form by stripping off all other stems on that main stem and staked it. It was in in 10 inch pot. I grew very well and bloomed all summer in zone 7. By end of summer I planted the plant in ground because maintaining butterfly bush in pot does not do well more than a season as it grows fast. It did go dormant in winter and did come out very good in 2014 but this year, the main stalk died and nothing grew on top of standard, I saw new growth from ground. Somehow the standard forms do not take harsh winter well and do not survive however the plant is hard to kill. I do not have room to overwinter perennials indoors so someone with that experience may respond better.

I was given a butterfly bush this spring. I was told it was a fourth of July bush. It blumed beautiful white and purple flowers. I am in between moving from a house into an apartment and opted to keep it in a pot until I can give it a permanent home. It faired great up until now. The flowers have died off as well as the leaves. I have been careful to not over water, it gets morning to early afternoon sun and shade in the hottest part of the day. This is my first bush and I am not familiar with its growing patterns and am concerned about what to do in the coming months of fall leading into winter. I live in St. Louis Mo and we can have extremely nasty winters. I would like some guidance on how to care for it not only in a container but for the upcoming winter months. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, YourYour butterfly noob noob

when you get really p.o.'d at looking at it every day ... is the day you will know it is dead ... i suspect.. in TX ... times up ... what else in the area is still fully dormant??? .. if nothing.. and spring is well on its way ... then time to give up ... you can give it another month.. but if its that far behind.. it is probably significantly damaged.. and whatever pops up.. probably wont be very vigorous ... and you will spend all summer being irritated at it ... and the alternative is to be done with it.. and plant something that thrills you every time you walk out the door in that equation.. lifes too short.. be done with it ... ken