Our Native Plants......Acelepias

Kristin Lacey

Question: What to Plant in Late Summer for Great Butterfly Action?  

Answer: Asclepias or milkweed.

Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed (picture below) loves sunny spots with dry sandy even gravelly soils.  For more information

  

Butterfly Weed may need a few seasons to reach full size of 36 inches tall. It is recommended to leave the old stalks in place so you don’t forget about them in spring while they green up.

If your potential butterfly garden in partial shade or sunny with wet soils? Then plant Asclepias

incarnata or swamp milkweed. For more information

   

To encourage butterflies to hang out in your garden as long as possible, provide food sources for the larvae (caterpillars) as well as nectar plants for the adults (butterflies). Here is a list of native butterfly plants for Philadelphia*:

*Marinelli, Janet, Brooklyn Botanical Garden All-Region Guides: The Wildlife Gardener’s Guide, 2008.

Host Plants for Caterpillars:

Aristolochia macrophylla, Dutchman’s Pipe

Asclepias incarnate, swamp milkweed

Baptisia australis, false indigo

Chelone glabra, white turtlehead

Eurybia or Aster divaricate, white wood aster

Passiflora incanata, passionflower

Rudbeckia species, yellow coneflower

Solidago rugosa, rough goldenrod

Vaccinium angustifolium, lowbush blueberry

Nectar Plants for Adults

Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed

Clethera alnifolia, sweet pepperbush

Echinacea purpurea, purple coneflower

Eutrochium purpureum or Eupatorium purpureum, joe-pye weed

Pycnanthemum muticum, mountain mint

Rudebeckia laciniata, cutleaf coneflower

Solidago species, goldenrods

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae, New England Aster

Vernonia noveboracensis, New York ironwood 

To learn more about planting for Great Butterfly Action check out these websites:

xerces.org/milkweed/

bbg.org/wildlife

monarchwatch.org