Not many other plants say “hello summer” the way butterfly weed does – there is no understating the glowing orange flowers which attract human smiles as well as butterflies (i.e. Monarchs) and assorted other critters. I purchased a few plants from Mahoney’s on the cape, and put them in average soil in as much full sun as my woodland property can deliver. Asclepias tuberosa is fairly drought tolerant. Plants can be grown from seed, but are somewhat slow to establish and may take 2-3 years to produce flowers. I am not that patient when it comes to flowers on what I consider prime sunfilled real estate. With a bit of luck the plants will freely self-seed. Butterfly weed does not transplant well due to its deep taproot, and is best left in the location you planted it first. Native Americans chewed the root as a treatment for pleurisy and other lung ailments – it is thus also known as pleurisy root.
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