Monarch Butterflies are fully and exclusively dependent upon milkweeds for laying eggs and for larva food source and they can nectar. These plants were once so plentiful they were literally called weeds because they were problematic in agricultural fields. However, that's no longer the case with regular Glyphosate treatments to agricultural fields wiping out all "weeds". With fragmentation, global climate change, pollution, and other threats this is a major problem for Monarch butterflies that heavily depend upon the milkweed and other native plants. Monarch caterpillars need milkweeds, but also nectar sources that many native flowers provide. Help keep these going! Please consider your part in this planet, plant Monarch food sources including milkweed and other native plants. 

The best native milkweed for landscaping and arguably the single best native plant for landscaping, Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Milkweed) is quite a plant. Its compact growth habit and beautiful and rarer intensive orange colored flower are what make it the most popular plant plus the ability to host the monarch caterpillar. You really can‚¬„¢t go wrong aesthetically with this plant, but it can be a bit finicky to grow in moister and heavy clay soils. Choose you spot well and you will have a lifetime of orange bliss!! 

Sun Exposure Prairie/Savanna  

Soil Conditions Mesic-Dry

Height 2'-3'

Flower Color Orange

Flower Time June-August

Wetland Status UPL

 

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