I've discovered a fantastic native plant for the garden. It's very apt for this Wildflower Wednesday (thank you Gail!), as this is also Pollinator Week. Purple milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens) attracts pollinators of all sorts.
hoverfly
carpenter ants
I'm so grateful to them, as the reason I'm growing this plant is for the seeds I'll be collecting for the Native Seed Gardeners program.
I needed a milkweed that wasn't orange and able to survive in my garden without trying to take over. Asclepias purpurascens sounded just the plant, so when I learned that Native Seed Gardeners was offering free plants in exchange for the seeds, I jumped in. Of the three baby plants I put into the ground last year, two survived, only one blooming for the first time this year.
Purple milkweed is kind of a misnomer. The buds and blooms are actually a rich rosy pink to magenta.
The buds are almost as attractive as the blooms.
The base of the stems and the leaf veins are also pink.
The surprising thing about this plant is the scent. To me, it is reminiscent of cinnamon. I wish you could smell it.
While widely distributed throughout the eastern half of the United States, it is endangered in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. It is usually found in moist meadows, and in dry areas of oak/hickory savannas. I have it planted where it receives the overflow from the rainbarrel.
Asclepias purpurascens is a host plant for Monarch butterfly larva. It gets 2-3 feet tall, and grows in Zones 5 to 9 in sun to part shade. All plant parts are poisonous, but toxic only in large quantities. I don't have any photos of the seedpods because it hasn't formed any yet here at Squirrelhaven.
So if you are looking for a milkweed with gorgeous flowers, great scent, and is well behaved, consider planting purple milkweed. The pollinators will thank you.
22 comments:
B, This plant is one of my favorites! ...and your photos are stellar~ Planting it near the downspout is perfect~must add this one to the list! I love the orange butterfly weed, but a pink bee/butterfly magnet is what's nwanted! Thanks for the link and glad you are celebrating wildflowers. gail ps You've convinced me to look at the Nikon90~
Oooh! I grow the orange, and two varieties of the a. incarnata, but I would love to grow this one! (And the really tall one with the huge leaves that I see everywhere around here on the roadsides, but whose name escapes me right now.) Too bad it likes moist... *sigh*
Lovely blooms, and great photos, MMD! A well-behaved milkweed sounds like a winner to me!
Oh, oh I so want to get this one!! I have the yellow and the orange and yellow ones.
Beautiful. A much easier color to work with than orange. In my garden I've found the Monarchs prefer the tuberosa to the common milkweed. Wonder how they will like this one.
Marnie
Great shots. I have the Asclepias tuberosa which has wonderful scent. I am still waiting for the monarchs. Great shots MMD!
I don't think I have seen this around. I would like some of it too. I reallllly like your header photo. Getting that coneflower in the droplet of rain is fantastic.
Stunning! Wish I could hope it would grow here, but I'm sure it needs more water than I'm willing to spend (Asclepias speciosa does OK).
Thanks for sharing!
I would dearly love to have that plant! Think you could spare a couple of seeds?
Looks beautiful! Maybe it would make a good addition to the rain garden. My swamp milkweed (A. incarnata) is just about to bloom in there.
It's so lovely and I hope Monarchs visit you.
The plants that I had that were labeled as the purple didn't survive, but I grow lots of pink asclepias incarnata.
My pink is beginning to bloom.
I want one! I'm going to search for seeds. BTW, I live in the southeast but Chicago is one of my favorite cities to visit. Glad I found your blog.
Oh, that's just lovely. I hope you get lots and lots of seeds. Happy pollinator's week!~~Dee
Mine are just now coming into bloom, too, and my swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) are just a bit behind. I have a cool photo of a monarch caterpillar chewing on one of the A. purpurascens leaves here. My butetrfly weed (A. tuberosa) would also be blooming if it hadn't been hidden by ox-eye daisies I just pulled out. :) And, finally, I just like the word Asclepias because it has "ass" int here, LOL!
Love milkweeds too...and am always so happy to have monarchs laying eggs and munching them down. Nice shots, Barbara!
Lovely... I love those flowers. And they are so important to the monarch butterflies... very cool.
Great photos! I have 3 Ascl. Purp. but they are not doing very well...in fact, 2 of them are goners. My Ascl. Incarnata is doing great, though! I so wanted the Purpurascens to do well but it's unfortunately fussier than the Incarnata. Have planted 5 or 6 varieties of milkweed this year...none of which have blooms yet!
Yep this is a great looking Milkweed. I love that color too, I'll have to think of a good location for it. Like maybe near the drain tube for my A/C unit. Hmm... :)
I just picked up a few more today at the NE Statewide Arboretum sale. They are wonderful. I wish more people planted milkweed becasue they bring in so many insects, and only 1-2 are aggressive spreaders. And less A. tuberosa in garden would be nice, esp since I have only ever seen one monarch on them.
ah now I know what Milkweed is in the UK - its a form of Asclepias! Thanks for sharing :) Rosie
The couple I have are also from the Nebraska Arboretum. I got them earlier in the spring, and they are starting to get less leggy. One has flower buds.
It was fun to see your blooms and the size of the plants.
MMD, You are always inspiring me to look for interesting (esp. native) plants! This is definitely one I'm interested in, and I thank you! :-)
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