Despite its name, butterfly weed is an extremely beneficial plant, particularly for pollinators. Butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, bees, and other insects have been known to visit these vibrant blossoms. Butterfly weed grows wild in most of the United States, mostly on prairies, open forests, and slopes.
Does butterfly weed attract pollinators?
These are plants that are quite similar and belong to the same genus. Butterflies and other pollinators benefit greatly from both. Butterfly weed, on the other hand, has distinctive orange flowers, whilst milkweed has white or pink/mauve blossoms.
Does milk weed attract bees?
I released a photograph of a Sphex sp. wasp with some strange features on its legs back in April. I assumed the strange items were fungal growths at the time. Following some additional study (e.g., when perusing the Internet, I came across a photo of a bee with similar structures on its legs), it appears that those structures are milkweed pollinia rather than parasitic growths.
Milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) are herbaceous perennials with vividly colored flower clusters and plenty of nectar. In North America, there are approximately 100 varieties and subspecies of milkweed. Although the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus (L.), is the most well-known visitor to milkweed blooms, milkweeds also attract a variety of other butterflies, flies, beetles, bees, and wasps. Milkweeds are commonly grown to attract pollinators and other beneficial insects that feast on the plant’s abundant nectar.
Milkweeds, unlike other flowers, do not produce loose pollen. Pollinia are waxy masses of milkweed pollen that are clustered into sacs. The only other category of plants known to use pollinia is orchids. Pollinia is not collected by bees for use as nourishment for their larvae in the same way that loose pollen from other flowers is. A pollinator’s primary reward for visiting milkweed blooms is nectar, and there’s plenty of it on milkweed. The milkweed flower’s design focuses on luring pollinators with nectar and ensuring that pollinia is picked up and moved to another flower to complete pollination. To better comprehend this process, consider the milkweed flower’s peculiar structure.
Each milkweed flower features a lovely star-shaped corona on top of a short central column, with outward flaring petals beneath the column. The corona of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.) is a lighter pink than the lower petals in the photo below. Insects will find nectar in the stars on the top of the flower.
A milkweed bloom from the side is seen in the botanical artwork below. A single flower’s star-shaped corona (A) has five hoods (h) and acorolla (c) of lower reflexed petals. A close-up of a flower (B) reveals a slit-like hole (f) generated by the fusing of the anthers at their tops and bottoms between each hood. Each slit leads to the stigmatic chamber, which is home to the pollinia. Each pollinium (C) is a winged structure with a central body that is paired (d).
When a visitor insect tries to reach the nectar offered at the top of the star-shaped corona, one of its legs or another appendage will fall into the anther slits between the hoods. The pollinia in the stigmatic chamber adheres to the setae or tarsal claws of the insect. The insect extracts the pollinia and transports them to another milkweed flower by drawing its leg out of the slit. During feeding, the insect’s leg or another appendage will most likely fall into a slit. If the donor pollinia remains in the recipient anther slit, the flower will be pollinated successfully.
Is milkweed and butterfly weed the same?
Butterfly weed grows primarily east of the Rocky Mountains, while common milkweed grows across much of the United States. Butterfly weed, the only type of milkweed with these hues, has orange or red blooms, while common milkweed has purplish flowers.
Like most varieties of milkweeds, common milkweed possesses a milky sap, which is what gives milkweeds their name. Butterfly weed sap, on the other hand, isn’t milky. The sap is clear, which distinguishes it from the other milkweed species. Butterfly weed grows between 1 and 3 feet tall, while common milkweed grows up to 5 feet tall.
What eats the butterfly weed?
Because the butterfly weed has a big taproot that can reach a depth of a foot or more in the soil, division is difficult, but it can be done in the fall or early spring before new growth begins. Butterfly weed necessitates the identification of the optimal plant location. Plants grow more stems as they mature, and they don’t transplant well. Because of its previous therapeutic usage in treating lung inflammation, the taproot is also known as pleurisy root.
After fertilization, butterfly weed forms a seed pod. The seed pods, also known as follicles, are three to six inches long and turn brown and split, causing the seeds to be dispersed in the wind by their silky-tails. The seed pods can also be clipped to encourage more flowering and keep the plants from self-seeding. In dried flower arrangements, the seed pods are appealing.
It’s difficult to talk about butterfly cannabis without mentioning its main consumer. This notable perennial is important as a monarch caterpillar host plant. Female monarch butterflies that lay eggs favor the newer growth of the butterfly weed plant and produce roughly 700 eggs over a two- to five-week period. The egg stage lasts three to eight days, depending on temperature. Caterpillars, also known as larvae, hatch from the eggs and become ravenous diners of butterfly weed and other Asclepias genus milkweeds.
The monarch caterpillars are easily identified by their yellow, white, and black stripes. The caterpillars molt throughout this nine to fourteen-day period when they outgrow their skin. Instars are the intervals between molts.
The monarch caterpillars eat cardiac glycosides, which are toxins found in butterfly weed (and other milkweeds). This toxin is more concentrated in the caterpillar than in the plant’s leaves, and it persists through the next two phases of metamorphosis. Predators have learned to avoid them due to their brilliant warning colors and toxicity, as well as the fact that birds and other animals who eat them become sick and vomit.
The next step of metamorphism is triggered by hormones produced by the caterpillar, and the pupa stage is commonly known to as a chrysalis. Caterpillars aren’t always able to pupate on the butterfly weed. They can go up to 20 feet away from the garden in search of a suitable pupation site. The caterpillar hangs upside down after molting for the last time, and silk is generated from a spinneret at the bottom of its head. Under typical settings, this stage lasts eight to fifteen days after encasing, after which the change is complete. The black, orange, and white wing patterns become evident through the chrysalis just before the butterfly emerges.
Last year, after renovating a raised flower garden at the side of my house to contain butterfly weed, I discovered my first ever chrysalis.
The caterpillar had moved about 10 feet from the side flower bed to a column on my front porch to pupate. The wing patterns were apparent by the time I noticed it, and the chrysalis was gone in a matter of days. I’ve since discovered that they can pupate on just about anything and then live for another two to six weeks after emerging as adults. Monarch butterflies that travel south spend the winter for six to nine months.
What is eating my butterfly weed?
Milkweed leaves have been known to be eaten by deer and rabbits, and milkweed bugs, tussock moths, queen butterfly larvae, and other insects feed on the plant.
Does butterfly weed attract chiggers?
This plant was usually called “chigger weed,” and I was warned that if I touched it, I’d be coated with chiggers (tiny red mites that bite you and cause horrible itching).
I’m not sure where that story comes from, but this plant is no more susceptible to chiggers than any other. It’s actually known as “butterfly weed,” which is a much more enticing name.
The milkweed Asclepias tuberosa is endemic to eastern and southwestern North America and is a member of the Asclepias family. It’s a fantastic plant for attracting butterflies, as well as hummingbirds and other pollinators, and it’s a vital food source for monarch butterfly caterpillars!
Butterfly weed blooms from early summer to early autumn and prefers full sun and sandy or rocky soil. It’s simple to grow from seed, and if grown in a greenhouse, it can take three to six months from seed to flowering! #BenInNature
Distancing yourself from others might be challenging, but it can also be a terrific way to reconnect with nature. Administrator of Science Ben Williams, who works from home, goes outside every day to capture a picture of the amazing vistas that may be seen in the natural world.
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Is butterfly weed aggressive?
Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) are both non-aggressive and appealing additions to home gardens. Butterfly weed needs full light and well-drained soil to thrive. It thrives in both dry and poor, infertile soils.
Does butterfly weed bloom the first year?
Milkweed, also known as asclepias, is native to North America, and one of them, Asclepias tuberosa, has been named Perennial Plant of the Year by the Perennial Plant Association this year. This plant, sometimes known as butterfly weed or butterfly milkweed, has bright orange flowers that attract a variety of butterflies and bees with nectar and pollen. Butterfly weed’s leaf isn’t a favorite meal of monarch caterpillars, but it can help them survive. This drought-tolerant plant prefers a dry, sunny environment and is hardy in Zones 3 to 9.
Upright stems with clusters of bright orange flowers contrast attractively with the shiny green leaves of butterfly weed. Unlike other members of the genus, the stem sap is not milky. This milkweed is not invasive since it does not spread by runners like common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Although deer are not attracted to butterfly weed, aphids can be an issue in gardens and greenhouses.
This plant is expected to be in great demand in the next years. Butterfly weed blooms readily the first year after seeding, but there are a few crucial elements to remember if you want to grow it professionally.
This species displays some of the most extreme photoperiod reactions we’ve ever seen. It’s an obligatory long-day plant, which means it has to flower during long days. When grown at an average of 68° F, plants develop quickly under photoperiods of 14 hours or more, and begin flowering about eight to nine weeks after transplant. Plants that are exposed to photoperiods of 12 hours or less, on the other hand, die dormant after a few days (Figure 1, pictured above). Leaves droop, shoot growth appears to stop, and existing flower buds may suffocate (Figure 2). Unfortunately, simply reverting to longer days will not return the plants to active growth. A nine-week or longer cold treatment is required to break this dormancy; in our testing, all dormant plants treated to 41° F for 15 weeks bloomed.
It is critical to provide long days to plants in order to keep them actively growing. We propose at least 16 hours of daylight or four hours of night disruption illumination. A minimum intensity of 2 molm2s1 should be delivered by photoperiodic illumination. Use incandescent lights or LED bulbs intended to control blooming that emit both red and far-red radiation. Maintain these extended photoperiods for plants until natural daylengths reach at least 14 hours.
Butterfly weed has a huge tap root, making transplanting or dividing established plants difficult. It’s critical to utilize a well-drained medium in container production, so consider adding more perlite to a standard peat+perlite mix. During production and cold treatments, be careful not to over-water. The taproot attracts fungus gnat larvae, so keep an eye on the roots if your plants aren’t doing well.
Butterfly weed can grow up to 3 feet tall in the wild, but in container production, our plants were only 12 to 18 inches tall when they first bloomed. Sprays of daminozide (e.g., B-Nine, Dazide), paclobutrazol (e.g., Piccolo, Bonzi), and uniconazole (e.g., Piccolo, Bonzi) are apparently helpful for height management (e.g., Sumagic, Concise). To help fill out containers, use many plugs per pot or squeeze seedlings soon after transplant.
Do bees like common milkweed?
They’ll forage anywhere they want, whether it’s on bee balm, dandelion, or Asclepias curassavica, the disputed tropical milkweed.
The honey bees received their final hurrahthe last bit of nectar for the yearright before we trimmed back the tropical milkweed for the season.
Why is tropical milkweed being cut back? When this plant is planted outside of its tropical region, scientific study suggests that it alters monarch migration patterns and can lead to the spread of OE, orophryocystiselektroscirrha, a protozoan parasite that infects monarch and queen butterflies. So, when the monarchs have stopped laying eggs for the summer (or early October), and before the monarch migration season, we gardeners chop it back.
Milkweed, on the other hand, is a favorite of honey bees.
(It’s worth noting that several scientists, conservation groups, and horticulturists advise people not to grow non-native tropical milkweed, and if they do, to cut it back before the migratory season.) (For further information, see the Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation’s page.)
The article “Milkweed as Honey Plants” by Connie Krochmal in the August 23, 2016 issue of Bee Culture magazine highlights how much milkweed is loved by bees.
“Bees are very fond of milkweed blossoms, and if these are available, they will forego other flowers.” The plants produce a lot of nectar. Pollen is discarded by bees.