PLANT FINDER
Magical Moonlight Button Bush
Cephalanthus occidentalis 'Magical Moonlight'
Height: 6 feet
Spread: 5 feet
Sunlight:
Hardiness Zone: 4b
Other Names: Button Willow, Honey Bells
Description:
An interesting shrub with most unusual flowers, hundreds of cream colored, tiny tubular flowers packed into a ball; a great conversation piece when in bloom; fruit persists into winter and add interest; an excellent choice for very wet sites
Ornamental Features
Magical Moonlight Button Bush features unusual racemes of fragrant creamy white ball-shaped flowers along the branches from early to late summer, which emerge from distinctive buttery yellow flower buds. It has green deciduous foliage. The glossy pointy leaves turn coppery-bronze in fall. The red fruits are held in clusters in mid fall.
Landscape Attributes
Magical Moonlight Button Bush is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a more or less rounded form. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Magical Moonlight Button Bush is recommended for the following landscape applications;
- Mass Planting
- General Garden Use
- Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
- Bog Gardens
Planting & Growing
Magical Moonlight Button Bush will grow to be about 6 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 5 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front, and is suitable for planting under power lines. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.
This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in moist to wet soil, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selection of a native North American species.
