Help save the Monarchs! (trees, vines, weeds, spring)
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Incredible. Something has been bugging me (no pun) since the other day when I said I have no pesticides in my yard. I should say I have not applied pesticides myself. Dallas did aerial spraying for mosquitos last summer, and I suspect they will end up doing the same this year.
Didn't know what milkweed was - googled images - omg I've been pulling them every time I see it growing in my yard ... thought it was a 'weed' that I didn't want in my yard (I do have butterfly bushes - not doing too well) ... ok I've learned something and will avoid killing the 'weed'. Thank you !
Didn't know what milkweed was - googled images - omg I've been pulling them every time I see it growing in my yard ... thought it was a 'weed' that I didn't want in my yard (I do have butterfly bushes - not doing too well) ... ok I've learned something and will avoid killing the 'weed'. Thank you !
there is a butterfly bush that takes a hurricane to kill it . It is called dark knight butterfly bush and you will be okay with that one .
I grow milkweed every year .
Didn't know what milkweed was - googled images - omg I've been pulling them every time I see it growing in my yard ... thought it was a 'weed' that I didn't want in my yard (I do have butterfly bushes - not doing too well) ... ok I've learned something and will avoid killing the 'weed'. Thank you !
They have some really beautiful varieties now,too! I want this one, AND the baby caterpillar,too!! milkweed plant - Bing Images
However my favorite is the orange kind, mine got HUGE this year, but STILL no Monarchs. Am beginning to wonder if I will only be able to see them in zoos one day.
They have some really beautiful varieties now,too! I want this one, AND the baby caterpillar,too!! milkweed plant - Bing Images
However my favorite is the orange kind, mine got HUGE this year, but STILL no Monarchs. Am beginning to wonder if I will only be able to see them in zoos one day.
I have blue, pink, white, purple, yellow and got cuttings of orange ball butterfly bush. I started all of my butterfly bushes from cuttings and put in the butterfly bushes in May of 2004 after the coastal trail was installed next to my property. The length of the trail garden is about 100 feet and about 4 feet wide. The butterfly bushes are now over 20 feet and will need to be reduced by half soon. There is also a large leaf maple, a weeping willow a fuschia magellanica, 2 Pacific coast red elderberrys, a few cotoneasters, a few honeysuckle hedges, an escallonia and assorted ground covers, all started from seed or cuttings. The largest butterfly bush has a trunk that is nearly two feet across at its base. I maintain both sides of the trail and also the bushes across the street from me and its lawn.
I have blue, pink, white, purple, yellow and got cuttings of orange ball butterfly bush. I started all of my butterfly bushes from cuttings and put in the butterfly bushes in May of 2004 after the coastal trail was installed next to my property. The length of the trail garden is about 100 feet and about 4 feet wide. The butterfly bushes are now over 20 feet... at its base. I maintain both sides of the trail and also the bushes across the street from me and its lawn.
Butterfly bush and butterfly weed are different plants. Butterfly bush (buddleia) is a fragrant shrub that butterflies love, but which can be invasive. There are some new varieties now that are supposed to be sterile. There are snobs who will say butterfly bushes are bad...but today I will not be one of those snobs. I still get confused and call asclepias butterfly bush, but they're different plants.
Butterfly weed (asclepias) is generally a herbaceous perennial (I understand there may be annual varieties as well) and it is the only plant which is host to the monarch butterfly. It provides nectar, just like butterfly bush, but the monarch babies also use butterfly weed as their nursery. Based on what we know so far, the larvae only eat the leaves of asclepias. It helps them to develop a poison which protects them as adults.
Where I live in the east coast, I grow ascepias tuberosa and ascepias incarnata which are native to north America and are perennials in zone 7. There is also "mexican milkweed" which can be grown in warmer climates.
Here's an image of butterfly weed (this one is the orange asclepias tuberosa):
Tuberosa, I can never remember that name. That's what I have, as well. Meant to check them today but forgot. Still keeping my fingers crossed that my eggs are actual monarch eggs and not something else.
Butterfly bush and butterfly weed are different plants. Butterfly bush (buddleia) is a fragrant shrub that butterflies love, but which can be invasive. There are some new varieties now that are supposed to be sterile. There are snobs who will say butterfly bushes are bad...but today I will not be one of those snobs. I still get confused and call asclepias butterfly bush, but they're different plants.
Butterfly weed (asclepias) is generally a herbaceous perennial (I understand there may be annual varieties as well) and it is the only plant which is host to the monarch butterfly. It provides nectar, just like butterfly bush, but the monarch babies also use butterfly weed as their nursery. Based on what we know so far, the larvae only eat the leaves of asclepias. It helps them to develop a poison which protects them as adults.
Where I live in the east coast, I grow ascepias tuberosa and ascepias incarnata which are native to north America and are perennials in zone 7. There is also "mexican milkweed" which can be grown in warmer climates.
Here's an image of butterfly weed (this one is the orange asclepias tuberosa):
Here's the orange butterfly bush:
Your Asclepias tuberosa patch is wonderful! Mine is only about half that size, but I have seedlings all over where I sowed this spring, and they have begun to bloom. I have several of the 'Honeycomb' butterfly bushes, yellow blooms, and they are just starting to bloom, so I'm watching for the Monarchs now.
BTW, I have blue-purple flowering creeping thyme under my Asclepias, and they were blooming together two weeks ago. What a combination, wow!
I have blue, pink, white, purple, yellow and got cuttings of orange ball butterfly bush. I started all of my butterfly bushes from cuttings and put in the butterfly bushes in May of 2004 after the coastal trail was installed next to my property. The length of the trail garden is about 100 feet and about 4 feet wide. The butterfly bushes are now over 20 feet and will need to be reduced by half soon. There is also a large leaf maple, a weeping willow a fuschia magellanica, 2 Pacific coast red elderberrys, a few cotoneasters, a few honeysuckle hedges, an escallonia and assorted ground covers, all started from seed or cuttings. The largest butterfly bush has a trunk that is nearly two feet across at its base. I maintain both sides of the trail and also the bushes across the street from me and its lawn.
Great Trail. I've walked right past your place.
That beach near there is spectacular.
Lucky dog.
BTW I've probably planted about 1000 butterfly bushes here in the central valley over the last decade.
When the painted ladies butterfies came through in 2005 by the millions got about 50 calls from clients thanking me for suggesting the plant.
Last edited by Bulldogdad; 07-10-2013 at 09:25 AM..
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I still get confused and call asclepias butterfly bush, but they're different plants.
