What it is
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is in the Apocynaceae family. The orange native milkweed - a monarch host and nectar plant that's drought-tough once its deep root sets.
How to grow it
It wants full sun, water it low, and give it well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 6.0-7.5. Space plants about 18 in apart. Expect roughly Blooms summer. Hardy native perennial.
How it's used
Butterfly Weed is used: monarch host; pollinator.
🔎 How to identify it
- Narrow alternate leaves
- Clumping habit
- Bright orange flower clusters
Not for eating
How to grow & propagate butterfly weed
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate butterfly weed
Butterfly Weed is grown from seed. Start it in the season it favors, keep the seedbed evenly moist until it's up, and thin to give each plant room to size up.
Growing butterfly weed in Texas
Give it full sun and well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Time your planting to our long warm season and watch the frost dates at both ends; the live weather tool on this site is built for exactly that.
Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly blooms summer before you're harvesting.
Making more for free
If you want more, let your healthiest plants mature fully and collect the seed once it's dry on the plant — then store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry until next season.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.