In April 2024 I was lucky to snag three small Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) plants at a Home Depot giveaway. I planted them in a small area of the garden that I have designated for native milkweeds. In that area I also have Antelope Horns (Asclepias asperula) and Zizotes (Asclepias oenotheroides) milkweed plants.

Two of the three Butterflyweeds are now flowering. In the milkweed area, they are now the plants that are the biggest, helped by the fact that when I recently hosted a group of Queen caterpillars, that was not their first choice of food.


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


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