The National Garden Bureau announced that butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa, is the 2017 Perennial Plant of the Year, chosen by the Perennial Plant Association. What a great pick! Butterfly weed is a North American native, a butterfly magnet, and host plant for monarch butterfly caterpillars. I love its distinctive flower formation: five petals that hang down, and five upright curved petals called hoods, each with one horn. It comes in orange, red or yellow. As you can see, mine is orange.
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| Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa |
Butterfly weed has no serious insect or disease problems. (Mine tends to attract an orange colored aphid with no notable effect.) Deer usually avoid it even though it has very little poisonous sap found in other members of Apocynaceae -- the milkweed family. This long-lived perennial, thrives in full sun and average to dry soil. I have the perfect spot ...
I created a small pollinator garden with liatris Liatris spicata 'Kobold'; purple cone flower Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'; phlox Phlox paniculata 'David'; cleome Cleome hassleriana 'Rose Queen' (a self-seeding annual); and, of course, butterfly weed. As you can see below, butterfly weed and a few purple cone flowers are the first to bloom.
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| The orange flowers of butterfly weed bloom before other perennials in my garden. |
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| The pollinator garden in full bloom. |
Monarch butterflies love both milkweed and butterfly weed. I grow them in several spots in my gardens.
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| Milkweed Asclepias incarnata |
"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly. "One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower." -- Hans Christian Anderson
Amaryllis Update
Amaryllis 'Ferrari' displayed eight gorgeous flowers on two stalks. When the flowers faded I cut off the stalks. A third one has a bud that is ready to open, so I placed the plant back in the south-facing window with 'Clown' and 'Picottee.' Clown has a bud but Picottee looks somewhat stunted.
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| Left to right: 'Ferrari', 'Clown' and 'Picottee' |
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| Bud on Ferrari's third stalk. |
I'll keep you posted.
The Great Backyard Bird Count
February 17-20, 2017
February 17-20, 2017
It is nearly time for the 2017 Great Backyard Bird Count when birdwatchers all over the wold document the number and species of birds that visit their backyards. I look forward to this event every year. Go to the GBBC website for instructions and a toolkit. I hope you decide to participate this year -- put the dates on your calendar. Here are some of the birds in my backyard today ...
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| Bluebird |
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| Black-eyed Junco |
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| Sparrow |
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| Female Cardinal |
I hope 2017 has started well for you.
Love,
Pamela x
I love reading your comments. I hope you leave one so I’ll know you visited!
I look forward to visiting your blog in return.
I agree - the Asclepias is a great pick for perennial of the year. Looking forward to the GBBC!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to seeing your bird pictures, too, Dorothy.
DeleteI love the bird photos!! Your garden looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Erin. But, unlike you, I have no mandarin oranges to pick today.
DeleteOh Pam, your pollinator garden is so pretty! Milkweed and/or butterfly weed have been on my list to add to my garden for a long time, but I haven't done it yet. This year, perhaps!
ReplyDeleteI hope you plant some, Linnae, to encourage pollinators to your garden.
DeleteIt was a good choice, long over due too. I have almost the same grouping of plants for my pollinators too. Pretty mix of plants. Your bluebird is adorable.
ReplyDeleteI'm pleased with that bluebird picture. It makes me think maybe I WILL master my DSLR camera one day.
DeleteA great choice, it's good that they've chosen a plant which is so beneficial to butterflies too. I love the photo of the bluebird, he's got such a lovely expression on his little face.
ReplyDeleteAs you know I miss your English birds, Jo, especially the cute little robin. I must confess, the bluebirds here make up for it.
DeleteI have pink and white butterfly weed, but not the orange Asclepias tuberosa. I've tried to grow it twice and killed it both times. I put my failure down to planting it too late in the season for it to get established before our cold winter weather strikes. This year I might try to grow it from seed.
ReplyDeleteI love that they have chosen this plant as plant of the year because it is so important for the Monarch Butterflies. I enjoyed seeing your pollinator garden and the bird photos are wonderful too Pam. The bluebird is adorable!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, your pollinator garden is perfect! Thanks for showing us views of it in various stages. I have several types of Milkweed in the garden, and I love them all! A. tuberosa seems to attract pollinators of all types, and I have found Monarch eggs on it. The caterpillars seem to prefer to eat the A. incarnata, but now that I have them planted near each other it's the best of both worlds. Great bird photos, too!
ReplyDeleteOk, you have me. I guess I will join up and count the birds. I love that butterfly weed is the plant of the year. Yay! I have it everywhere here as it spreads itself around and about. Pam, your photo of the bluebird is gorgeous!!!~~Dee
ReplyDeleteHi Pam! I love your pollinator garden. Some of its plants are my favorites, for ex., liatris Kobold.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Pam, please, leave a comment on my blog with your e-mail address (I won't publish it, of course), I want to send you some info regarding a cookbook from the Old Goat Farm. Thanks!
Will do, Tatyana. Love to hear from you.
DeleteI must try butterfly weed! We have a large stand of milkweed out in the Back Eight acres for the monarchs. I was getting a glass of water from the tap this morning and saw an amazing array of wild birds at the backyard feeder, but I'm not great at photographing them like you are. Thank you so much for your kind comments on my blog; you always raise my spirits. :-)
ReplyDeleteI have two of the orange butterfly weed, and while I don't generally allow orange in my garden, for this I make an exception! It looks stunning with lavender, and also with my light blue salvia, I think called Crystal spires.
ReplyDeletePollinator garden looks inviting
ReplyDelete