{"id":11902,"date":"2019-06-18T00:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-06-18T04:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=11902"},"modified":"2019-06-16T21:42:19","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T01:42:19","slug":"attractive-butterfly-weed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2019\/06\/18\/attractive-butterfly-weed\/","title":{"rendered":"Attractive Butterfly Weed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Asclepias-tuberosa-Mellow-Yellow-2-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11903\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Asclepias-tuberosa-Mellow-Yellow-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Asclepias-tuberosa-Mellow-Yellow-2-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Asclepias-tuberosa-Mellow-Yellow-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>&#8216;Mellow Yellow&#8217; butterfly weed<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Butterfly weed (<em>Asclepias tuberosa<\/em>), aka milkweed,\u00a0is a long-lived summer blooming perennial. In the wild milkweed may be found growing in dry\/rocky open woodlands, prairies, farm fields, and along roadsides in\u00a0the southeastern U.S and mid-western\u00a0U.S. and Canada (USDA hardiness zones 3 -9). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Established plants typically grow as a clump to 2- 3 feet high and 1 -2\u00a0feet wide. Butterfly weed serves as an important host and nectar plant for many kinds of butterflies, including monarch butterflies and other beneficial pollinators. Their thick green leaves serve as a food source for the butterfly pupa (chrysalis).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike many of the other milkweeds, the sap is not milky. For almost six weeks, from late spring into summer, clusters of vibrant orange to yellow-orange flowers (umbels)\u00a0cover the plant canopy. The narrow, lance-shaped leaves are attached to hairy stems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Asclepias-tuberosa-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11904\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Asclepias-tuberosa-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Asclepias-tuberosa-1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Asclepias-tuberosa-1-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Butterfly Weed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Butterfly weed self-sows freely in the landscape, but the plant is not considered invasive. Prominent 3 &#8211; 6 inch long spindle-shaped seed pods break open when ripe and release multitudes of silky-tailed seeds which are dispersed a long way by wind. Seed pods may be utilized in dried flower arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Butterfly weed is a perfect choice in sunny meadow or prairie gardens. It\ngrows in average, dry to medium, well-drained soils. It is highly drought\ntolerant and manages in poor, dry soils. Established plants emerge rapidly in mid-spring\nand grow rapidly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Butterfly weed is easily&nbsp;started from seed, but&nbsp;may take a year or\ntwo before first flowering. Digging up wild plants usually winds up failing because\nof&nbsp;their deep taproot system. Young seedlings are&nbsp;best left\nundisturbed for two years to become established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Few disease and insect problems trouble butterfly weed when grown on the right\nsite. Wet poorly-drained soil will invite root rot disease and plant death. Rust\nand leaf spot diseases are signs of an&nbsp;overcrowded planting. Plants are also\ndeer proof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their\nbright orange flower clusters are among our showiest native wildflowers and look\nnice in floral arrangements. &#8216;Hello Yellow&#8217; is a yellow flowering cultivar. Make a nice cut flower for\nyour home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), aka milkweed,\u00a0is a long-lived summer blooming perennial. In the wild milkweed may be found growing in dry\/rocky open woodlands, prairies, farm fields, and along roadsides in\u00a0the southeastern U.S and mid-western\u00a0U.S. and Canada (USDA hardiness zones 3 -9). Established plants typically grow as a clump to 2- 3 feet high and 1 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1218,747,1319,1351,749,1122,645,674,806,1324,1208,853,1097,551,627,625,843,1060,1059,729,777,630,705,706,646,1,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11902"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11906,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11902\/revisions\/11906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}