Blue Mist are Caryopteris, not spireas (even t hough they look a little like spireas), so you may be causing some confusion. I would also check to see if the butterfly bushes will cause issues with seeding in your area since I've seen comments from other warm weather gardeners that they do, though they don't this far north.

If your computer is a Mac, just plug the charging cable into your phone (pull it out of the plug part) and plug the other end into one of the ports on the side of your Mac and the machine will walk you through loading the photos into iPhoto. Then you can open up iPhoto, rotate or whatever changes you want to make to the photos, and use the Photo button at the bottom of the GW text box to load photos. Click that Photo button and on the page that pops up, under Media on the left side find Photos. Click that, scroll through the photos to find the one you want, double click the photo you want and wait for it to appear in the text box.

You can easily upload photos right from your phone too. Just click on the comment bar and then click on photo icon below. Choose photo library and click on the pic you want to share. You may want/need to edit the photo before you do this. It is very convenient :)

I have a question about the Blue Mist bushes, which NHBabs thinks may be caryopteris and not spirea. I see that Sammy is in a warmer zone than I am, but I question that caryopteris would be blooming now.

I'm in zone 6 and we don't see flowers on our caryopteris - I have 2 different varieties - until September. Could Sammys be blooming this soon if they were caryopteris and not spirea?

I just noticed in our area that some some of the colored spireas are just starting to bloom in peoples landscapes. Just wondering about how soon a caryopteris would bloom in zone 7.

Pictures of Sammys plants would be a help.

Also, there are sterile Butterfly Bushes available. I'm not familiar with Asian Moon. I grow several different varieties and while a see an occasional seedling near a couple of them, I don't see volunteers near the others.

Just a couple of thoughts,

Linda

'Blue Mist' IS a caryopteris, not a spiraea (although it is sometimes commonly called 'spiraea', also bluebeard). There are no blue flowered spiraeas :-)

In warmer climates, it is quite possible these shrubs are blooming now - they are just starting to bloom in my area, whereas most of the spiraeas are just finishing.

'Asian Moon' is a sterile cultivar of Buddleia but it only comes in one color - a rich purple color with orange throat.

I am not the one to decide that the Blue Mist, Black Knight is spirea. The nursery labeled it as spirea and when I looked online to see pictures, it was spirea. Spireas are in bloom now in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and they have been blooming for a couple of weeks.

Yesterday when I returned to Southwood Nursery in Tulsa, they had the same spirea displayed beside the Butterfly bushes. I bought two different types of butterfly bushes. They are: Buddleia davidii nanhoensis Nanho Purple and Buddleia davidii nanhoensis Nanho Blue.

It is interesting to me that my roses have names that very precise to me. Cramoisi Superieur is not just a red rose. Rival de Paestum is not just a white rose. However, it will take some time to regard a butterfly bush as a specific cultivar. I learn more and more each day.

As I look at the labels, Asian Moon is the Buddleia x Asian Moon and will reach 5-7 feet. Nanho Purple Compact Butterfly Bush will reach 3-5 feet.

It is way too hot here. Thanks for the information about the phone. I will try again.

Sammy

Your 'spiraea' is a Caryopteris and the nursery had it mislabelled, or rather labelled in a way which pandered to a common misnomer. Sellers give plants a lot of misleading names in an effort to persuade customers to buy something which sounds familiar. Dark Knight is a cultivar of 'Blue Mist shrub' which is another whimsical name name for Caryopteris. It does actually matter because Spiraea is an entirely different genus of plants with different habits and requirements. As GG said above there are no blue Spiraeas. Just for confusion, Dark Knight is a Caryopteris and Black Knight is a Buddleja.

But back to your original post. I would have thought that Buddlejas would dwarf Caryopteris in no time. Caryopteris tops out around 2- 3 feet. I'm assuming you have a huge garden if it can accommodate 5 (or is it 7 now?) Buddlejas.

I just measured my Blue Mist, and they are 36 inches wide and 31 inches tall. I have 7 of them. On the other side of the area where I have the Blue Mist plants are the Butterfly Bushes. 2 should be 3 to 5 feet tall and wide. 3 should be 5-7 feet tall and wide.

I really do not know how to define a large garden. I have a little over 100 rose bushes in beds with various other plants. I also have many crape myrtles.

Sammy

GardenHo, thank you so much for your instructions about the photos. I took pictures yesterday, and they are on my phone. I think I need to put in a link for Houzz on my phone. Would you happen to know how to do that? Verizon set up my phone for me, and I am learning how to use it little by little.

Last night I did some research on my computer because it bothered me to think that our popular, reliable nursery was just plain wrong in its labeling of plants. I found a website for Washington State University. It had a list of Scientific names of plants, and beside it Common names for plants. It listed Scientific - Caryopteris x clandonesis Common - Blue spirea. It was interesting to me to see the names, and to think that I might be required to know that information to post here. At one point I grew 276 rose bushes. I have reduced that number to a little over 100 so I could create a true garden using many forms of vegetation, not just roses. I have no intention of trying to search out more scientific generic names. I feel awkward that I did that. I bought blue spireas, and they are very pretty. I hope to be accepted on this forum, and to speak about roses, spireas, butterfly bushes, and any other perennials.

I feel such love and peace in my beautiful garden, and want to share with others who also love their gardens. To me that is what this site is all about. Also, by inference, this site should be a place to feel safe to say what you please in order to get information to make you better informed.

Sammy

The reason people on the forum use botanical names and encourage others to use them is to avoid the very confusion that has characterized this discussion. Common names vary from place to place and are often misleading, as this discussion has also made clear. The use of botanically correct names has nothing to do with being arrogant or trying to make someone feel bad. It simply has to do with being clear about what we are talking about. It's very difficult to get accurate information when no on is sure what is being discussed.

You're welcome Sammy. You can add this forum easily to your homes screen. I did this and it brings me directly to gardenweb and you don't have to scroll thru houzz to find it. Just scroll down slightly and it will bring up options across the bottom of your screen. Click on the box with the arrow and choose "add to home screen". It will then prompt you to add. It will then appear just like an app that opens up to gardenweb. Gotta love iPhones :)

Oh, and don't feel bad..many of us here don't know the botanical names. It is very helpful though I agree.

Sammy - over 100 roses is an enormous garden in my book ;-)

No one is wanting to make you feel awkward or unwelcome and I'm sorry if you've been made to feel that way. The point is that by using the correct botanical name for a plant one can be assured of getting the right information about it and being able to research it in reliable sources. It is not arrogance or showing off. It's about using a universally understood language to talk about our favourite activity - gardening. People post here from all over the world and we all have different common names for plants. My 'Rose of Sharon', for example, is not the same as yours so I would use the botanical name to talk about it. Then we all know what is meant. We are all learning all the time here and getting the hang of the nomenclature is part of that learning, It's like any interest or hobby. The more you get into it the more you need some precise vocabulary to discuss it. When you search for specific plants to buy you'll need those botanical names and sellers who don't know or use them are not necessarily the best places to purchase from. If they don't take naming seriously how can the consumer trust their quality and professionalism?

No one 'requires' you to know botanical names. But once one has found them out it is helpful and practical to use them for everyone's sake. You say you want to get information to get better informed - well those botanical names are part of that information and will aid you in your quest. We are only trying to help.

Let me add my apologies as well as I think it may have been my clarification post on the plant in question that created some bad feelings. Others have already pointed out the benefits of knowing botanical names - they are the only common denominator in discussing specific plants with anyone located anywhere in whatever language. Caryopteris x clandonenis is the same plant to a gardener in Kansas as it is to a gardener in the UK as it is to a gardener in Russia, South Africa or China. But the common name can vary widely from country to country and even within the same country. Many common names are very fetching and evocative of the plant in question ('kiss me over the garden gate', 'love lies bleeding', 'rupturewort', 'lungwort', etc.) but some can just be very confusing when they "borrow" a botanical name for use as a common name......like the 'blue spirea'. The use of 'lily' as part of a common name is one of the most confusing and misleading as it is very often applied to plants that have no relationship to lilies at all.

The more you garden and the more you select different types of plants for your garden, the more botanical names will become familiar to you. You probably already know a great many more than you think as many plants do not have common or vernacular names and so they are only referred to by their botanical name........like rhododendrons or clematis.

On some forums, not using botanical names can generate a lot of heat :-) The Conifer forum is one example, as there are many conifers commonly referred to as 'cedars' that are not true cedars and using that common terminology for anything other than a Cedrus species will create a lot of flak from some participants.

My apologies as well, Sammy. Sometimes how comments are intended and how they come across in a written format aren't quite the same. I was trying to clarify the question since I have been involved in a few threads where folks were discussing two totally different plants using the same common name and this often leads to misunderstandings or misinformation. As someone who obviously loves your garden, you are more than welcome here and I hope you continue to participate.

I think you will enjoy your blue mists/Caryopteris as well as the butterfly bushes/Buddleia. IME the blue mists/Caryopteris will bloom at a time when not a lot of other plants are blooming, and the foliage, whether gold or frosty blue, is really attractive all season. There are only a few that have been hardy enough for me here in the cold end of zone 5, so I'm a bit envious. I'll be interested to hear if yours get much bigger since they have a reputation for mostly staying around 3'.

The butterfly bushes really deserve that name because you will find that they attract many insects, including lots of butterflies, but also other types. You may get hummingbird moths as well which I love to watch. And I think your goal of having less maintenance in this area than with the roses will also work out. Do you plan to mulch under them or smaller plants or have grass and mow?

Good luck with the photo posting. It's something of a learning curve to get past being able to post the first few, but once you have figured out how, it's relatively smooth after that. I look forward to seeing your garden - the idea of that many roses is amazing and I am sure that it's lovely.

Thank you very much for taking the time to discuss this issue of the spirea with me.

GardenHo, if you are still reading, I cannot find Houzz or Gardenweb on my phone under the listing of aps. There must be something I do not have, and do not know how to insert. My daughter said something about Safari. I bought the phone from Verizon, so later this week I think I could take it in, and have them help me. (I will be out of town for a few days this week.)

I am looking forward to participating in this forum as my garden gets better developed.

Sammy

Sammy I know new phones can be confusing. You are correct there is not an app for this site. But you can add it to your home screen. If you follow the steps I mentioned above, it will then appear like an app. You can then click on it and it will bring you directly to the gardenweb forums. Just make sure you do these steps while on the gardenweb site. If it won't work for you, the Verizon people will be glad to help you :)