Buttonbush is a deciduous native shrub with some of the most distinctive spherical, fragrant, pinchushion-like blooms - hence the common name. A woody plant with large, lush foliage, it thrives in riparian environments both sunny and shaded. In our region we see it growing in both wet meadows, where it happily competes in full sun with tall grasses and forbs; and along wet areas on woodland edges, where the shade encourages the plant to get taller, though with fewer blooms. It can withstand periods of standing water, but does not do well in dry soils.

Useful as a cut-flower, this plant is also used for wetland restoration and in rain gardens. It grows quickly - from plugs it will begin producing flowers in its second year, though shouldn't be harvested until its third.