Asclepias tuberosa

With brilliant orange flowers like the flames of a prairie fire, butterfly milkweed harkens back to its grassland origins. Bold color but modest stature (1-3’) make this plant especially versatile in the garden, where it works well in the foreground or as a short patch between taller plants. Within its native NE Ohio range, butterfly milkweed can be found in open habitats such as fields, meadows, and roadsides, which, incidentally, are often inhabited by its close relative, common milkweed. Growing best in sunny situations of dry to moderate moisture, butterfly milkweed is a long-lived perennial whose showy umbels of flowers will enliven the garden during the summer months, year after year.

The plant’s pollinator value is exceptional, as indicated by its inclusion in the Xerces Society list of recommended plants for the Great Lakes Region. Butterfly milkweed serves as a nectar source for a wide range of bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, and beetles, and its flowers and foliage are consumed by monarch caterpillars. Butterfly milkweed is a favorite plant of the Great Spangled Fritillary butterfly, and gardeners should keep a lookout for this species to visit from mid-June through July. Planting a patch of butterfly milkweed will increase the plant’s apparency on the landscape, making it easier for butterflies and other pollinators to find it.

References: 1,2,3,