This week: Everyone’s favorite native, milkweed
Hello!
Pollinators rejoice—Asclepias syriaca (Common Milkweed) is in flower! According to the USDA, more than 450 insects feed on the plant, from milkweed beetles to butterflies and bees, making this plant a pollinator powerhouse.
However, milkweed is even more well-known for being the Monarch butterfly’s sole larval host plant. The underside of milkweed leaves is the only place where Monarch butterflies will lay their eggs. Then Monarch larvae (caterpillars) feed on the leaves. Chemicals from the milkweed leaves make Monarchs unpalatable to predators, so not only is this plant a life-giver, but milkweed is also a lifesaver.
Common Milkweed is easily identified in the wild because its blooms look like pinkish-purple flower balls attached to tall stalks. Later in the season, it has telltale seed pods with fluff.
In the home landscape, Common Milkweed can grow five feet tall in just about any type of soil condition. It spreads rapidly through both rhizome and seed, so you’ll want to leave space for it to form a patch or control its size by planting it in dry, poor soil. You can propagate Common Milkweed by dividing it in the spring while the plant is still dormant, and you can start it from seed by fall or winter-sowing. It can take two growing seasons to flower from seed, so be patient.
If Common Milkweed is too big or too aggressive for your space, consider the shorter, more behaved milkweed, Butterfly Weed.
Elsewhere:
Do you have bindweed vines that just won’t go away no matter how often you pull them? Learn how this noxious invasive weed grows and what makes it so persistent in this article from Penn State Extension.
Before You Go:
The big list of native plants available at Home Depot and Lowes has been updated. For the first time ever I spotted a few native grasses. Exciting!
Have a great week,
Julie