Asclepias tuberosa, Orange Butterfly Weed

Asclepias tuberosa

Orange Butterfly Weed

• Requires a full sun setting to thrive
• Thrives in dry settings, requires good drainage, not tolerant of soggy conditions
• Grows to roughly 36" in height and width
• Perfect for hot, dry gardens and dry meadows

A clump forming, rather than running, Milkweed species, these ones are happiest in dry location and plenty of sunlight, fitting equally well into dry meadow gardens and conventional sunny perennial beds.

Their bright orange flowers appear in mid summer and are popular with bees, especially bumble bees in my observation, as well as butterflies.

The foliage of this species is palatable to monarch butterfly caterpillars, although I’ve read that the levels of cardenolide, the substance in milkweed foliage that makes baby monarch toxic to predators, is lower in this species, making it a good pollen and nectar source but not quite as good a source of greens as other members of this plant family.

They can take a couple of years to reach their mature size of to between 2’ and 3’ tall and wide but tend to be quite long lived after that, as long as they receive enough sunlight and have sufficient drainage (they really don't like wet feet!)