Butterfly Weed Wildflower Seed Plugs (Asclepias tuberosa)
Butterfly Weed Wildflower Plugs - Asclepias tuberosa
We think you should try growing ALL the milkweeds, but if you had to choose just one- this would likely be the most all-purpose choice. Most folks wouldn’t argue with this being the best buy among the milkweeds for a landscaping scenario, where the flat-topped, glowing orange to (sometimes) yellow or red blooms appear much brighter than their surroundings, and the green leaves hold their own when it’s not in bloom. Being a perennial, you can plant these plugs once and enjoy them every year for years to come. They will also reproduce and spread by seed.
The blooms are utilized by all sorts of insects including bees and butterflies. The leaves are also eaten by the larvae of the Monarch, Grey Hairstreak, and the Queens butterfly. Since we grow these for our customers to plant in their bird and butterfly gardens and pocket prairies, we refuse to treat them with systemic insecticides….so you may encounter a few aphids from time to time on them. Never fear- the aphids can feed your ladybugs, or you can blast them off with a hose.
Butterfly weed needs full sun and a well-drained site to thrive and bloom. They will not tolerate wet or poorly drained soil. Along with many other wildflowers and native grasses they can grow on sites deemed too poor to grow fast growing trees, and will serve a better purpose than said trees on poorish sites. The wild yard a.k.a. “pocket prairie” is thankfully making a comeback by folks in-the-know, and this one is a top choice for that.
pH range 4.5-7.5