I was thrilled that my butterfly milkweed – Asclepias tuberosa – popped up again this spring in my kitchen garden. It’s not supposed to favour the compacted rocky clay soil I planted it in, preferring sandy well drained soil to sink its tap root into. It’s also supposed to be very drought tolerant though, so I thought a full sun spot amidst thyme and Nepeta, rising above fading daffodil leaves, might work. So far so good! It came up with more stems than ever and it’s now blooming for the first time. I’m not disappointed that the bright orange flowers match all the images I’ve seen and envied over the years. I had thought; however, that the flowers would be covered with butterflies from the moment they started to bloom. So far I’ve only noticed ants and a hornet slurping down nectar. Time will tell I guess.
Another thing not attracting butterflies – which they never do so nothing to be disappointed about – are the various daylilies now in full bloom. Some of them are named, not that I remember their names, others were started from seeds I collected.
I made an effort this spring to cut back/pull up/walk over portions of the carpet of Rudbeckia, Echinacea and Solidago that have been competing to overtake everything else in my Island Garden these past few years. I don’t mind the coneflowers, quite like them, in fact, but despite goldenrod and black-eyed Susans being native and beneficial for insects and birds, blah blah blah, they can be really thuggish. My Iceberg rose has benefited from the efforts and the space it’s reclaimed:
Another white flowering non-native is Yucca filamentosa. As a caution to anyone thinking of planting this extremely drought tolerant, evergreen perennial/shrub, its roots run VERY deep and trying to pull one up could remove the main plant but also encourage many new plants to spring up in its place. Trust me. I know. Surprisingly, it also self seeds. I’ve discovered seedlings in garden beds around my patch of Yucca when I decide (or forget) to deadhead the flower stalks.
I’m joining Jim at Garden Ruminations again today to showcase six thing in my garden, and I have two purples to round out my half dozen. The first is a ‘Tinilco’ Asiatic Lily. I find it hard to describe the colour, aside from purple-ish. Perhaps dusky rose, as I’ve read; also red ‘coral pink with wine red centres’ but that doesn’t really match what’s in my garden. You be the judge. And the last image is the most recent small Allium in bloom – or just starting to bloom, I should say, Allium sphaerocephalon, the drumstick Allium. Have a great weekend everyone!
That Butterfly Milkweed is very pretty! Common, Asiatic Lilies have little to no nutritional value, so Butterflies usually ignore them. That ‘other’ Lily has the color of blood coral. You sure have a wonderful variety of flowers in your yarden.
The drumstick allium is especially appealing, but I certainly enjoyed seeing a couple of our natives in your garden: the yucca and the butterfly weed. That milkweed’s one I’ve more often seen in eastern Texas, but it certainly does seem to be a butterfly magnet. I especially remember the swallowtails visiting. Ants and wasps will do the job of pollinating, but they’re not quite as much fun to watch; I hope you get some ‘flutterbyes’ fluttering by soon.
Wise words regarding the yucca. I planted one from my late father’s garden many years ago, he said it would never be happy where I planted it as it was too shady. Not only was it happy, it thrived – flowered every year and produced numerous babies. Then I needed to get rid of it and it took a mini digger to get the roots out! Even then, a seedling sprang up a year or so later, its last hurrah (fingers crossed)!
The asclepias is beautiful, it sounds like you have found the perfect spot for it. Lots of lovely daylilies and the rose is gorgeous. Great six!
Ah, yucca! My house came with two and I am not a huge fan, so I dug them out as best I could and continue to pull up anything that comes up from the enormous root that I could not conceivably dig out. I think they are pretty, but these were right next to the house and they looked weird there. I believe I tried some herbicides too. Yucca just laughed at me and said that in 20 years plus or minus, when I am gone, it will be back! My asclepias does get some butterflies as evidenced by the caterpillars. They are very popular with the large milkweed bug in my garden as you have seen over the years with my posts. Don’t worry, the butterflies will come!
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Yucca filamentosa certainly is durable, but I had no idea that it self sows. I never saw seed pods on the floral stalks before cutting them off. Perhaps it lacks a pollinator here.
The butterfly milkweed is a show. I hope it continues to defy the odds!
Are those ants really purple?? They may not be as welcome as butterflies, but their color contrasting with the orange milkweed make for a gorgeous photo.
I have tried growing several milkweed varieties that aren’t native to my area of California, but none of them lasts. So I now have lots of the native Showy Milkweed and Narrow-leaf Milkweed (which I planted some years ago), and they happily sprout up all over.
The colors of the wasp/hornet are truly striking against the light and the orange-red of the milkweed: I saw your photo on Insta—which captivated me—and now I have the details from your weekly Six. A lovely choice of daylilies, too.
I think we were looking at drumstick alliums in someone’s front garden today and saying how nice they were!
Your daylily collection is also very beautiful and impressive.
A. tuberosa should continue to thrive now that it is established. Mine attracts more flies than butterflies other than Monarchs.
Lovely choices. I had no idea the yuccas could be invasive in an area with cold winters. Thanks for the warning!