Animals

Butterfly Weed

An extremely hardy, long-lived perennial native to North America.

The flowers produce a large quantity of nectar which attracts butterflies throughout the growing season.

Blooming period: June-September

Produces a very deep taproot making transplanting difficult.

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is a type of milkweed, and as such is automatically a potential host for the monarch's caterpillars (although the common milkweed is perhaps superior in this regard).

Butterfly weed is deer-resistant.

This plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and/or birds.

Drought-tolerant; suitable for xeriscaping.

Self-sows freely; deadhead if you do not want volunteer seedlings next season.

We have the Asclepias tuberosa 'Hello Yellow' which produces many golden yellow, flat-topped flower clusters in early June.

Butterfly weed grows best in full sun, with sandy, well draining soil.

The first year we planted ONE, I only saw it bloom once because the caterpillars kept eating it.

Apparently we had plenty of seeds though because I have a flowerbed full of it now.

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Animals