Home - Native Plants - Butterfly Milkweed
Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) for sale in Port Jefferson
All the Butterfly Milkweed we sell is homegrown. We don't use pesticides and grow organically. We have 20+ years experience with Long Island native plants, designing and rewilding natural landscapes.
Butterfly Milkweed, a host plant for monarch butterflies, is an open field native which tolerates proper pruning for multiple blooms throughout the season. It's a slow spreader, so you may want to use several plants. It needs to be established with daily watering. After that, no watering is needed, so be careful about irrigation systems.
Butterfly Milkweed, a host plant for monarch butterflies, is an open field native which tolerates proper pruning for multiple blooms throughout the season. It's a slow spreader, so you may want to use several plants. It needs to be established with daily watering. After that, no watering is needed, so be careful about irrigation systems.
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The Yellow Intruder
In 2013, I purchased a butterfly milkweed at Cathy's Flower Stand in Mt. Sinai thinking it was our native butterfly milkweed. I planted it in the backyard, and all was fine until it bloomed yellow.
Not only that, but it impacted the butterfly milkweed I was growing commercially at the front of the property. Many were no longer orange. Apparently, this isn't a true native, but cultivated to be yellow. According to American Meadows, "Hello Yellow Butterfly Weed was developed from the native Butterfly Weed and has golden clusters of flowers." A local vegetable breeder, Ken Ettlinger, considered the range of colors exciting. Our plants ended up ranging in color from a brilliant peachy salmon to pale orange to yellow. Ken explained, "You're growing out a specialized variety, and the monarchs will still come to feed on them." So I selected for the colors I liked and clipped the yellow so the bees couldn't cross pollinate them. Then Dai Dayton from Friends of Long Pond Greenbelt said, "We can't buy Quality Parks butterfly milkweed if it's not truly native, because Vineyard Field is a grassland restoration, and we need it to be orange." Fortunately, most of the hybridization had disappeared, as I was bringing in more seeds from other sources to maintain biodiversity. I then assured her that they were the traditional orange. 
It's tough being a purist. Despite my best efforts to keep out the yellow intruder and remain native, I am still partial to some of the color variations.
You may also want to check out Swamp Milkweed and Common Milkweed |
SummaryClassification: Herbaceous perennial
Characteristics: Spotty in a meadow; adds attractive color Habitat: Dry open fields, can be outcompeted by more dominant plants Wildlife Benefit: Attracts butterflies, bees, pollinators Bloom Period: Early summer Height: 2-3 ft Tolerances: Full sun to partial shade, deer resistant Pricing Information & Availability |
