butterfly weed

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is beginning to bloom in NW Ohio. This perennial prefers full sun but can tolerate some light shade. The garden location should be fertile, moist and well drained, but once established it is drought tolerant. 

This native 1- to 3-foot herbaceous perennial, Asclepias tuberosa (not to be confused with butterfly bush, Buddleia) provides that fairly uncommon sight along roadsides, in meadows and, increasingly in gardens – a bright orange flower. This caught my eye so dramatically decades ago that I had to pull over while driving an interstate highway in Iowa, against the increasingly urgent verbotens of the Herr Professor in the passenger seat. Just had to take a look.

 

It is sometimes called orange milkweed, and Asclepias is a genus with many species that...