When I went on the Miami County Farm Crawl last May, I stopped at a nursery and brought home three buttonbushes.
I wasn't sure where to plant them and since they like water and they don't mind even living in water occasionally, I set them in the creek so they wouldn't dry out by the time I returned the following week (or um, weeks).
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL4o8q2rEcmH1nypZX8-iM2gj2QD_5syBJTQHwYqOyr63e_xiKesbomz2zP-0Zsg7nsxUrO_cgKmbj6iWDEpAYDpzgO43wPnK8IT8R5cIbbV0PXyF16_fhu17q8WKLayemUwpg8crBMukW/s400/buttonbush+in+the+creek.jpg)
Sometimes I'd find this....you know, after it rained. Then I'd have to track the missing ones somewhere down the creek. I don't think they were very happy to have more than their roots submerged in water.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHxekoHSDvGZKi1-GvPYJD7sgEJde0Wbv5WBD9eChy8UUcJ3Yccyhdth11_mWvb3pIZbdocSyqNrsTjmZinULRJhoHHcm71e5AZg4lnBbQn_Sq-fF-wW8SQkitQ5O2R6OdX1abq8t-jnuJ/s400/ophelia+the+buttonbush.jpg)
And I don't think this guy was happy about me removing him from a submerged pot, his newly claimed home.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKp6YSuPH7h7nX288vGrwzzdD3tkq-s9jt-T9df0mcQ-3MhfH8yykvHEIsksjbv7xHArNW1YTjlzIOj7pkPylsn3o83a5tEUXtJRLL6IuaN4NE3-YZQqTsUXqitZQQxY6fmtpven76c3Iy/s400/crayfish+closeup.jpg)
He finally had enough of me (and our staring contest) and then backed away quickly right back into the creek. Just like that. Gone.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2Ip_eSCUCC_eXFJKtrjHzBfqXEjvvshbNkaTbOMsY4HMM5yTxrbZKVO-OHzoG_Jqv-u-1dRgQoOCfIT1BrpZI4aKWq6fziPSfgWyQ9NZ1ZhgsRHEX13VTsVw0RbwaMqj_O971ZA_ahRn7/s400/backing+up+crayfish.jpg)
I also bought another buttonbush somewhere along the way last year, a small one, and that one stayed in my backyard for the summer and then surprised me with one bloom. One day it looked like this...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9eZvtstp28HF3gWda-1JAY_szhErJHk4Mmfblr6qycrlNr7AOBcD_aaJUKVP7LNcSXa3J_Fa6F004AkVLQIu4MFYtYIORINzgGCO4BDhrcd_oAGgAeTYvfJtLQtKAwIgk8YePaZiNC6y9/s400/august+25+buttonbush+flower.jpg)
...the next day it looked like this:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4TYUFAIGKdGbY2H8epxFZhG6ZOpND9Bq7rB8o7YXnSqZQHwNYHLP7Udzpai7C6FCfcAijZOP8-u4dB60iZLuW4pd_HvJ28Bs8lroOjziN-h_Djbxw3RpuxY7dHEc8C_bC1QFoNJYLCg8/s400/flower+august+26.jpg)
And that's when the bugs discovered it because that flower was sticky sweet with nectar. The flower was so sticky, if you disturbed a nomming insect, it had a hard time lifting its feet to get out of the way.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQdyOXKeyeK6o3rQO6-85hxscN3gqiO6hnWpvD0_Id28ldVSbnYOiHznkPoKTJVYhklfrSJs2YXIbZW-MZaL2QVCppYyuFvNV-AxeI_Wk4qtquJoJ748dcfcB9MdlOUoq5-rdcwkSDY87t/s400/soldier+beetle+and+the+buttonbush.jpg)
Eventually I got them planted in a row on a bank beside the creek but kind of late in the year. I wasn't so sure they would survive my bad treatment of them...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmk3rg9L2Ae6EppPQr6pPpXyC6PQf5_Dx57721Tl_X0s6zpat8BMHZ0bzjgnVvhnu0dRqPAh0LANwww3Y9rNotRt-gmXtOnqlUK0miVNVebhgM08rLJyYJnn7QPzuHvQV_bweUjdlhKj63/s400/buttonbushes+in.jpg)
...but they did. And at the end of March, they had already started putting out their fresh new leaves in their new, finally permanent, home...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidctYIzbHzCydon3ZBIRx89rnbqehcmm90ir1Tis8ymESVZbaElg_cbNJLJauuQPuPieJ3Dw2m68DdOl0TeNjj2Q271ErzE4I5qL5Tlf9ryUABmvJzT1hcg-H0gSMaqYXtFjhBHoudbtYG/s400/buttonbush+new+leaves.jpg)