Pugster Blue® has full size, fragrant, blue-purple blooms on a compact bush. It blooms non-stop from early summer through frost with true-blue flowers, each with a tiny yellow-orange eye in the center. Thanks to thick, sturdy stems, the Pugster® series offers vastly improved hardiness and winter survival over other types of dwarf butterfly bush. It is drought-tolerant, attracts pollinators, and resists deer and rabbits.
- 2 feet tall and 2-3 feet wide at maturity
- Hardy in zones 5-9, be sure to check your USDA zone to ensure success
- Plant in full sun (8+ hours daily)
- Space plants 3-4 feet apart for best results
- Produces fragrant true-blue flowers with yellow-orange eye summer through fall
- Maintains green foliage in a mounded habit spring to frost
- Blooms on new wood
- Great for borders, containers, edging, groundcover, landscapes, mass planting, as a focal point
- Attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds while resisting deer and rabbits
- Heat and drought tolerant, reblooming, deadheading not necessary
Please note: Our Ships Now shrubs are still waking up from dormancy! In the spring, shrubs begin to emerge from dormancy with swelling buds and potentially new growth as temperatures rise and daylight hours increase. Most dormant shrubs start leafing out in April, depending on the specific plant and local weather conditions.
Care: Fertilize with Proven Winners Continuous Release Plant Food in spring.
Pruning: Prune in spring, after the new growth emerges. Remove weak branches in the middle and about 1/2 to 2/3 of the height and width. Make cuts just about 1/4 of an inch above a bud. Dead or damaged wood can be removed at any time, just cut back to a set of leaves.
Soil: Butterfly bushes need perfect drainage. Their roots are sensitive to rotting, and if they spend any amount of time in wet soil, they can be set back or even die. They can grow in clay soil, but need to be planted a few inches above soil level. This creates a small “hill” that encourages water to drain away from the plant rather than settle around it.
Planting: Never amend the soil when planting a butterfly bush. Amending the soil, particularly clay soil, can cause drainage problems. Avoid mulching directly around your butterfly bush. Mulch is a great idea for other plants, but in clay soil, it can hold too much moisture. Go ahead and mulch your beds, but give your butterfly bush a bit of clearance, and never mulch all the way up to the main stems.
Dormancy: Butterfly bushes tend to be one of the later plants to leaf out in spring. Even if everything else in your landscape is turning green, that doesn’t mean you’ve lost your butterfly bush. If you're worried, try the scratch test. Lightly scratch at a few branches with your fingernail. If there is green underneath, the plant is still alive.
Shipping Info:
- Enjoy free shipping on orders over $125
- Size at shipping varies by the season and plant
- Quart shrubs are 5-8 in. at the time of shipment
- 1 Gallon shrubs are 6-24 in. at the time of shipment
- Shrubs shipped Nov-Apr will arrive dormant; shrubs shipped Apr-Oct will arrive green or in bloom
PLEASE NOTE: Due to State Laws This Product Cannot be Shipped to the Following States: OR, WA
Read our guide to get started with planning a garden
