Going Native: Butterfly Weed

While I intend to spill into a lengthy diatribe later regarding how amazing native plants are, for now I would like to mention one in particular, our lovely little orange wonder, the Butterfly Weed (a.k.a. Asclepias Tuberosa).

I honestly forget where this is from, and might even be home grown from local seeds.  Those cacti you see at the bottom, by the way, are indeed "perennial"!  We will see them later on.

It's pretty damn easy to grow, and here in Michigan we can usually neglect it and it thrives.  It can make its way through most drought, owing to a large taproot (which means it does not do so carefree in confined situations like pots or urban dirt that has a concrete bottom).  It does fine in rock gardens, sandy patches, and seems to be fine in my thick, unyielding clay.  For those gardeners who have trouble finding a strain that their clay can make friends with, Prairie Nursery out of Wisconsin does offer a clay-loving variety.  I've personally never had a problem with it, though I also tend to be very intense when it comes to establishing perennials.  A bit of water goes a long way to getting that long taproot where it needs to go.

Soil issues tend to not be much of a problem for this species compared to just being able to find it.  In some years it gets touted as the be all and end all of "attract monarchs to your garden" sales pitches at nurseries.  In most years, however, I find people asking even at native plant sources where they can find some of this amazing plant.  The most consistent source for stock that I have yet found is George's Livonia Gardens, which offers a very basic native plant selection, but is a great place to get the bare bones of a wildflower garden going.  That said, they are also fairly easy to grow from seed and can be found along roadsides and meadows/fields/prairies.  They form very distinctive pods which are architecturally pleasing and carry the plant through the winter as a design element.  Leave the pods to ripen in the garden, where they will do the work for you, usually giving out a nice healthy plant the following spring.  Failing that, you can find their seeds even at most hardware stores, but for a fine native such as this, nothing beats our local type population (more on this in another post).

The picture above really does not do the plant justice.  The orange has an intensity that is in my opinion unmatched in the plant world.  Only the California Poppy (a.k.a. Eschscholzia Californica) comes even close to the brilliant, almost neon orange that this wonder puts out.  Gardeners have long since bred it into various other colors, but the original orange remains the most brilliant, awe-inspiring flavor.  Back when Michigan had more in the way of natural prairies, it probably stole the show even among other wildflowers.  Such has certainly been the case in every prairie and savanna patch I have ever been to where it has been present even in small numbers.  In the garden, it can compete with even the flashiest annuals.

Even way in the back there, it still has a commanding presence and is the brightest thing next to the orange marigolds up front.  That little patch, by the way, has quite the plant diversity and history, and is something I will re-visit frequently for individual plant coverage and design concepts.  Speaking of which, Butterfly Weed is obviously a very painless choice for integrating natives into an overall design.  Unlike most other milkweeds, it has a very clean appearance and does not usually get derided by the ordinary, non-gardening folks as "weedy".  In contrast, those tall common milkweed stalks were responsible for this patch getting repeatedly mowed until I dressed it up some more.  That's a real shame, as both plants offer very different structural contributions to the broader garden landscape.  Alas, Butterfly Weed tends to look more like a typical garden plant, and tends to be a happy find while weeding, at least if the weeder has ever seen one in bloom.  Half the time I find them growing freely in the lawn and am very reluctant to send them away; for what its worth, they do tend to transplant easily at such a young age.  Keep that soil ball around the roots intact and well-watered in its new home and you can transplant fields of them. 

Equally at home in rough or formal settings, Butterfly Weed works well with many plants, notably other wildflowers.  I am particularly fond of using them in contrast with white/silver foliage plants such as the various sagebrushes of the Artemisia genus, and they also look nice with other shrub-sized plants such as roses.  Alternatively, group them with low-growing annuals for some vertical contrast.  In South East Michigan, Butterfly Weed tends to give an opening bloom around Mid-June (these pictures were taken today, June 18th) and even without deadheading (pinching off the faded blooms) tend to give another bloom later in July and early August.  They like it hot, and tend to finish blooming before the fall, but I have seen the rare late August show as well.  The blooms tend to last the better part of a week, sometimes as long as two.  Don't pinch off the second bloom, as the pods will develop, and they look amazing!  Give it a go, you will not be disappointed.