Milkweed Garden

Milkweed spreads easily via rhizomatous roots.

Milkweed garden. This beautiful perennial genus of plants offers a wide variety of foliage blooming times and flower colors. Butterfly weed and whorled milkweed grows best in dry conditions. Milkweed has a place in your garden the monarch butterfly is dependent on milkweed as the caterpillar stage can only consume milkweed as their food.

Common milkweed grows well in average garden soil. Swamp milkweed as its name implies will do best in a moist environment making it great for wet meadows or rain gardens. Toxicity of common milkweed.

Cutting root sections and planting them so the roots are just buried will easily propagate the plants. However the reason for planting milkweed in the garden flies by in summer and enchants most who see them. This milkweed has rose pink flowers and grows naturally in marshes making it ideal for a moist spot in your garden.

Monarchs are very good at finding a milkweed plant but the more you have in your yard the more likely they will find it and lay their little eggs all over it. Learn more in this article. True it may be found growing along roadsides and in ditches and may require removal from commercial fields.

Why plant native milkweed in your garden. The milkweed plant may be considered a weed and banished from the garden by those unaware of its special traits. Bowman s hill wildflower preserve is a 501 c 3 non profit and is the premier source for high quality nursery grown native plants in the delaware valley.

Milkweed is the cornerstone of a successful butterfly garden and planting a mix of both native and non invasive annuals will entice more monarchs to enter your garden gates. These varieties are utilized as both host plant for caterpillars and a nectar source for butterflies. Milkweed plants are neonicotinoid and pesticide free.