Asclepias, Tropical Milkweed, Bloodflower, Butterfly Weed, Mexican Milkweed, Scarlet Milkweed 'Silky Gold'

Absolutely positive!! This is one of my all-time favorite flowers, and especially of this species. But my experience is quite different...Read More than in some of the data. First of all it is lower growing, not reaching more than 2 feet. It lists the zone as 10 degrees, but I lived back in the mountains where we would have extended periods of cold between 0 and 5 degrees. This plant came back more and more beautiful each year. It formed a nice round tidy 18-inch diameter mound of delicious buttery gold that lit up the garden beautifully and always caught the attention of all who passed by. It reseeded, but not close to the plant, and not excessively or even nearly as much as I wanted it to. It seemed to like to nestle into the crack between the lawn and the sidewalk, where I would carefully dig up the little shoot with a screwdriver and stick it in the garden elsewhere. It got regular water with the rest of the garden and each year produced a larger growing mound of flowers--about 3 years to maturity. No special treatment. It was never bothered by caterpillars or aphids, nor did I ever see butterflies flocking about it. It would get forgotten from time to time and dry out, but retained it's beauty. However, when I would douse it with water it somehow looked brighter and more energetic. I found it to be pretty care free and very easy to grow. I had read it doesn't like transplanting, but I was forever transplanting the little shoots with great success. My soil was a sandy/silty type of loam that drained very quickly and dried out in a day unless I mulched it well. Nothing ever got wet feet, though our winters were massively wet. I never fertilized except when I was first preparing the garden; later I applied a nutritious organic mulch, but no manure or chemical fertilizers. My daughter's plant (exactly like mine plus a couple that came from me) all died in her wet clay soil, though her temps were never as hot or cold as mine. Now I've moved and am looking everywhere for this wonderful plant. It emerges late in the spring and so is late to the nursery shelves. Patience pays off. There is a more tender, taller (I think 36-inch variety) that I didn't try in the mountains because it was too tender. It also was yellow.

This plant is the larval host plant for the monarch butterfly and is so popular with the hungry, little critters that you'll want to plan...Read Moret it behind another plant that doesn't get eaten down to the bare stems. Keep it accessible, though, because you'll love watching the beautiful monarch caterpillars munching away. When one "litter" disappears, look around your garden for the glittering green chrysalises. Our palms were a very popular spot with successive generations last summer and fall. What a joy to share our garden with such beautiful creatures!

I bought a packet of these because they were good for the butterflies. They have grown well and are great plants but somehow I felt I sho...Read Moreuld have seen more butterflies than what I have. I still like them anyway and will grow them again next year.