Butterfly Milkweed
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- Central Texas
- Texas
- Full Sun
- Part Sun/Shade
- Very Low
- Deer Resistant
- Flowering
- Attracts Pollinators
About This Plant
Mostly sun; benefits from light afternoon shade. A deciduous perennial growing to a mound 1-3 feet in height. The showy, orange-hooded flowers appear during summer. As its name suggests, it attracts monarch butterflies. However, it’s used more as a nectar plant than a larval host — since it doesn’t contain milky sap, it doesn’t offer protection for monarchs’ caterpillars.
Butterfly weed can be long-lived in well-drained sandy loam – i.e., in amended garden beds. It doesn’t appreciate heavy clay soils. Aphids tend to congregate on milkweed plants in the garden, but they provide food for ladybugs!
Maintenance
Aphids can be cleaned off by cutting back the stems or blasting the plant with soapy water.
Features
This plant goes well with
- Engelmannia peristenia
- Rudbeckia maxima
- Echinacea purpurea
- Asclepias curassavica
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