Rewilding My Lot

Recently, Home Depot had a giveaway of Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) plants and I was fortunate to be close to one of the participating stores in Houston on the day.

So now I have three tiny Butterflyweeds that have joined my milkweed area. I already had four small Antelope-Horns (Asclepias asperula) plants and some seeds of Zizotes (Asclepias oenotheroides) that I scattered last year but which have shown no sign of growing.

The grasses in the milkweed area have grown out of my native grass area that is nearby. They are helpful right now, but might be removed later as the milkweeds need more space.

Like my other new milkweed plants, these will have to be defended from caterpillars until they are bigger. Otherwise the plant could be completely eaten before a caterpillar is ready to pupate.

Butterflyweed is related to other milkweeds, in the Asclepias genus, and is a host plant for Monarch butterflies, but the most commonly used names for this plant don’t include “milkweed” because it does not have a milky sap.