Butterfly milkweed, a perennial wildflower also known as Asclepias, thrives in meadows and along roadsides, but they’re also terrific in flower beds too. These handsome, native plants will attract lots of Monarch butterflies to your garden. Although a single plant produces many flowers and makes a colorful show all by itself, several clumps of milkweed here and there in the garden are even prettier, and they’ll attract more Monarchs. In a late-summer garden full of butterfly milkweed plants, the butterflies themselves sometimes seem to be more numerous than the blooms.

Asclepias Tuberosa

There are more than 100 species of butterfly milkweed, but one of the most common, and widely distributed, is Asclepias tuberosa, which has bright clusters of orange or yellow and orange flowers in summer and fall. The blooms are raised at the end of stalks two or three feet tall, so you can see them even if the plants are growing at the back of a flower bed. The flowers are bold, and they look very pretty with pastel asters, ornamental grasses, and the last roses of the season. Butterfly milkweed is also striking with the smoky purple flowers of Joe Pye weed or purple coneflowers.

How to Grow Milkweed

It is easy to grow butterfly milkweed from seed sown directly in the garden, and fall sowing will insure a good display of flowers the following summer. Sow the seeds in a sunny spot, perhaps in a corner of a flower bed, where you can keep an eye on them as they come up. Seedlings will emerge in spring, and the plants will grow both taller and larger every year. Milkweed seeds are produced in pretty, pointed seedpods packed with seeds, each on a shimmering, feathery cluster of silk. When the pods open, the seeds fly with the wind to find their own spots. You can collect the seeds and pods and distribute them around the garden.

Planting Fall Bulbs

Milkweed Brings Life to a Garden

Milkweed flowers provide nectar for Monarch, Queens, and little hairstreak butterflies, and the Monarch larvae (caterpillars) find the leaves irresistible. By the end of the season, some plants may be nearly completely consumed by caterpillars — but don’t worry, they’ll be back stronger than ever next year, and the butterflies will be too.