This is the most famous member of our native milkweed family, and a well-known magnet for butterflies. Its one of the wildflowers that is so beautiful, its been taken into perennial gardens just as it is in nature--no hybridization necessary!
Butterfly weed has very little in common with its relative, the common milkweed--the familiar, tall, dusty-rose-flowered weed so often found along roadsides and in farm fields. This one is a really beautiful orange-flowered form with much more refined foliage and habits.
The milkweed family of North American plants is named Asclepias after Asclepias, the famous Greek God of Medicine, since the plants have long been used in herbal medicine.
This Asclepias, with its glowing orange flowerheads, is best placed in a dry, sunny spot, and appreciates fast-draining gritty soil. This plant is native over most all of the eastern part of North America, from Canada all the way to South Florida.
We also sell Asclepsia seed, but plugging in these plants will save you a year or two, since they are somewhat slow to become established. But once happy, they're as hardy as oaks.
