For some reason I’ve avoided butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa and never planted it until we moved here and have a garden that’s sunny all day. Butterfly weed is in the milkweed family and butterflies and bees love it.
Butterfly Weed with Monarch from Better Homes and Gardens Site
I have two plants growing between peonies, dark purple salvia and delphiniums. They bloomed this spring, coming at the tail end of the peony and salvia and along with the delphiniums.
Delphinium and Butterfly Weed Glowing in Evening June 23, 2016
The first blooms lasted almost a month. I dead headed them and both plants rebloomed the last half of August for about 2 weeks. Unfortunately the delphiniums and salvia didn’t join the rebloom.
One plant has seed pods. I am happy with the two plants we have and will likely let the seeds out in our empty lot instead of having them go to seed.
I bought my plants a couple years ago from a company that merged into Spring Hill Nursery. They sent the plants bare root in early March when we had over 2 feet of snow covering my garden and I didn’t expect them to stay alive long enough to plant. Actually the plants did live although they didn’t thrive the first year. I kept them and eventually this year two of them got about 2 feet tall and bloomed beautifully.
If you have a sunny spot and like the glowing orange of the flower heads then try butterfly weed!
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