This is one of my absolute favorite plants, with its compact form and
vibrant orange flowers. Plus there’s the added benefit of attracting
butterflies, hummingbirds and bees, due to the copious amounts of
nectar it produces. In fact, it’s one of the larval food plants for
the Monarch Butterfly. Butterfly weed is a member of the milkweed
family, and has the characteristic seedpods filled with silky-tufted
seeds, but is unique in that it does not contain milky sap like most of
the other members.

The Facts:

Zones 3-9
Native To: All but Northwestern United States
Height: 1 to 2.5 feet
Spread: 1 to 1.5 feet
Flower: flat-topped umbel, 2 to 3” wide, consisting of many
smaller orange flowers, each with down-curved petals
Bloom: June to August
Leaves: lanceolate, alternate, hairy, toothless, 2 to 6” long
Sun: full sun or light shade

Garden tips and uses:

Butterfly weed is quite low-maintenance once it is established, which
can take a few years. The new growth is slow to emerge each spring, so
marking the plants’ location may be a good idea in the fall. The
plants develop a deep taproot, making transplanting difficult, so it’s
best to initially decide where you would like the butterfly weed
planted and leave it there. Once the butterfly weed is established, it
is drought tolerant and can handle sunny, dry conditions, though,
well-drained soil is very important, as the plant is susceptible to
root rot in heavy soil.

Because of its hardiness and beauty, Earth Wizards tends to incorporate
this plant into many landscapes, both natural and formal. I’m kicking
around the idea of trying butterfly weed in a rain garden, since most
of our rain gardens use a quick draining mixture of sand and compost.
Whether dotting a natural prairie landscape or formally grouped in a
perennial bed or sunny border, we’ve found butterfly weed to look
gorgeous pretty much anywhere we’ve planted it!

Images Courtesy of Missouri Botanical Garden PlantFinder.