Ok who's hiding all the butterflies?
Haven't seen one in a very long time,have you?
Butterfly Milkweed
We picked four monarch catepillar off our milkweed last weekend, and brought them in the house in a butterfly cage. Three of them are in chrysalis. These are the only catepillars that we've seen this spring.
Seen one today that looks like a monarch,but it's one of those look a likes,can't recall what they call them,lots and lots of moths though!
What type of butterfly weed is it? Mine have narrower leaves and orange flowers. I have LOADS of butterflies in my garden in mid/late summer, but have never seen a catepillar anywhere...
Viceroy! :)
You have Asclepias tuberosa,I just started some from seed myself,there are just a few inches tall now.
Finally in flower,these grew to over 5ft tall,and still growing,but will probably stop now beginning to flower.
Call me crazy!!!
But as I was getting a close up,I thought I smelled something,so I pulled the flower to my nose,and to my surprise,It smelled like chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blew me away!!!!
Do all milkweed attract butterflies? I have A. tuberosa and am waiting eagerly. So far, nothing.
Usually monarchs don't get to my area of Kansas until late July early August,in the migration back to Mexico.
I can't say about all butterflies,but it is the flower they love to lay there eggs on.
beautiful pictures of the flower head. All of mine are being eaten by aphids. I was spraying everyday with soapy water and they were more than I could keep up with, went out and purchased some spray, I so hate chemicals, but these darn bugs are eating every plant I have in addition to the milkweed.
Janet
Mix tablespoon of veggie oil to 16oz of water in a spray bottle,little squeeze of dish soap also,shake and spray!
Mine have grown almost 6 ft tall!
Still smell like chocolate!
Thank tropicman: I'm going now to mix some up. Mine at 4.5 foot tall.
Janet
Unless you're having the butterflies actively visiting your milkweeds. Even soapy spray will harm the caterpillars and the butterflies themselves. I use a hose and moderate jet streams of plain water to knock the aphids off the plants. Once they fall off the plant they will die. This year, I'm so glad the population of ladybugs increased as the number of aphids increased. In my garden -- thus far -- the ladybuds won the battles. I've so many ladybugs this year -- I'm so thankful for the butterflies sake. Still I haven't seen many butterflies around, however.
Same here not seeing any butterflies,for a change,I'm actually seeing more honey bees this year.
Yes never spray when you have caterpillars and butterflies present,do so only when it's free of our friends.
Haven't had any butterflies this year. More bees which is good but the spray of water from the hose wasn't getting rid of them. I've not see but a few lady bugs, want to package some up and send them to me..... The bugs are not only killing my milkweed but a few other plants as well.
Janet
Same here as well,2 or 3 ladybugs seen,but had aphids earlier this year on my joe pyed weed,and the spray mixture killed them right away!
Here are mine in the front bed. Boy do they spread fast as last year is was only one small plant all of these are new this year.
Janet
I know,mine too!
You have the rounded leaf variety while I have the lance left type,but the flowers look to be the same.
I was told they do spread fast but wow, I'm going to have to increase the back of the flower bed to go around that side of the house so they spread there instead of into the rest of the flower bed in front of the house.
I can't wait till they bloom, I've never had them before.
Janet
When yours blooms be sure to smell them,mine has a light fragrance of chocolate.
This is only my 2nd year with them.
Extra fun reading!
http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/spring2009/Update061109.html#maps
My A. tuberosas are among my favorite plants, not just from a butterfly perspective, but also because they're just such pretty, tough, long blooming performers.
Karen
I planted some seeds,few popped,but growing ole so slow!
Love that orange flower!
tropicman: Well, you know, it's that old sleep, creep, leap thing.
I started my tuberosas from seed and they're now in their 4th year. They bloom like that for a good month in early summer. As long as I don't allow them to grow seed pods, they rebloom for another 3 or 4 weeks in late summer. And even in drought, they never seem to need any supplemental water. They have incredibly long tap roots.
Karen
Thanks Karen,thats what I heard even about the the tap root.
I guess I'll have to have a little patience!!! Ha Ha!
And make sure you have them planted where you want them to spend the rest of their lives. Transplanting them becomes impossible later.
Karen
Will do!
I have a few seedlings left in pots,I was wondering if it was possible to grow these in containers?
You most certaintly can plant MW anywhere. lol. Many of mine are in containers because of the strayed seeds from winds.
Here is one returning from winter sleep last year, it's now getting ready to send out the first flowers. Those that piggybagged onto my tropical containers, and has been growing year roud, are making seedpods currently.
Thanks lil,that gives me some ideas for later on,combing plants in containers!!!!
Lily Love yours is the A. curassavica your so lucky it's a perennial for you. I have to start mine indoors every year here. I agree the A. tuberosa is very slow.I have some seedlings that are in their second year and they are tiny. While the ones I started from seed in 06 are starting to fill in there space. I'll ost pics soon, their buds are just starting to show color now.
Thanks Meredith, indeed I'm very fortunate. I found I can push my zone a little some plants are said to be hardy on zone 8 are hardy here. I'm adding two more milkweeds into the garden. A. Tuberosa and a Purple milkweeds. Don't know how those will do here but I shall find out soon.
Lil love,are you in the red clay there?
My mom was from Greenville 50 miles south of Mon tgomery and they had that red clay that was hard to grow anything.
I have always loved asclepias tuberosa.
It's always nice to have plants which thrive in poor soil.
My experience w/ a. tuberosa was so good, I wanted to try some other species.
Unfortunately, I found asclepias speciosa to be too aggressive in my garden.
I'm still pulling out runners.
The experience has made me a little gun-shy trying other species.
Are there other species which bloom nicely, but won't take over my garden?
just beautiful, I would suggest before planting any other types, as for my type it is very aggressive, that you plant in large pots in the ground and collect all seed head before they drop, this should give you a little more control over their aggressiveness.
Janet
ps that is what I'm doing with mine after this season, digging them up transplanting to another area and collecting all seed heads.
I agree - stay away from speciosa unless you have a lot of room it can do what it pleases in. The A. incarnata has a clumping not running habit and all though it's common name is swamp milkweed it tolerates quite dry conditions. I had some growing in sand that had those bags of garden soil mixed in a year prior and after veggies grew there. Plus it only gets afternoon sun because it's on the east side of my lot with trees blocking the morning sun. It did pretty good considering. I am pretty sure the A. purpurascens isn't aggressive either but I can't say for sure from my own experience. I have been trying to get some going since 06 and It's been tougfh so it can't be too aggressive, at least not here.
I meant to say stay away from the A. syrica too - it is just like the speciosa - as far as running and being impossible to get rid of if it pops up where unwanted.
Weerobin, i am putting that bright yellow flower on my want list! is that milkweed? is it tuberorsa or speciosa? i am kinda having trouble telling milkweed from joe pye weed..now im not sure which one i do have!
Re yotedog's question:
I've read or heard that of perennial milkweeds in our area and the North East, Monarchs feed on all of butterfly, swamp and common milkweeds, but are more likely to lay eggs on swamp and common milkweed.
Hi, Pandora.
Mine is common, ordinary asclepias tuberosa.
I really do like it. Loves poor, dry soil in full hot sun, so don't try to pamper it too much.
Reliable bright orange flowers.
I also have a yellow version ('Hello Yellow') which is also nice.
As it's name implies, it's a clear bright yellow.
My asclepias speciosa experiment was pretty disastrous, due to it's invasive tendencies.