Plant of the Day: Butterfly weed - Asclepias tuberosa
Photo of Butterfly weed - Asclepias tuberosa

Photo courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden

Instant Asclepia


Starting perennials from seeds usually takes time, but butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) was an exception for me. I sowed about twenty seeds in late May and soon had a dozen seedlings. The weather went dry, the tiny seedlings lagged. Three survived until the rains returned. Then came almost three months of heavy rains. To my surprise, by early summer one of the seedlings reached a foot tall, branched three times and bloomed with three full clusters of flowers. Whoa!


I transplanted all three seedlings in mid-summer. They were crowding each other and located too near larger perennials. They’re fine now (mid-autumn). The books say that older plants suffer in transplanting because they have a deep, thick taproot. On the other hand, you can slice the taproot into pieces and each will make a new plant.


My near-instant results I credit to the bountiful rains and the quality of the seeds, which came from a prairie nursery in Iowa (butterfly weed is a North American native). Next year the plants may grow two feet tall and have twice the flower clusters. The flowers, which are orange, attract hummingbirds, and Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves.


By Mark Kane - the Groundskeeper, YourGardenShow.com

Copyright © 2012 YourGardenShow.com

Want to read more about this plant and other varieties? Click here for the Butterfly weed - Asclepias tuberosa Plant Page!

Plant Photo Tagging - How it Works

Video by Tom Finerty, founder YourGardenShow.com

Plant Photo Tagging allows you to turn any garden photo into a rich tapestry of what you have planted. It’s fun, informative, and helpful to others visiting your garden. As you photo tag, you can easily add plant names from our database and/or make notes about anything you’d like. To get started, sign-in and go to your Garden.


Click on any image in your garden's slideshow Carousel to get to full-view mode. Click on the “Tag” icon just below your photo and you are ready to tag! Simply click and drag your mouse over a plant or area you’d like to highlight or tag. A pop-up box will appear and ask for either a plant name or a note - add one or both, then click “tag” and you’ve just tagged your garden!


Write and tell us your suggestion for a "How it Works" video:
how-it-works@yourgardenshow.com


For more info contact: help@yourgardenshow.com

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Plant of the Day archive

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