Butterfly Weed
Back to the empty lot today. It was cold and a jacket would have been a good idea. Or gloves, anyway. It was also overcast and not terribly bright so getting a sharp photo with a frozen shutter finger was difficult.
Tagged With: Asclepias
Butterfly Weed
Butterfly Weed
We have this orange Asclepias tuberosa as well as a pure-yellow-flowered variety.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias tuberosa, Bloom, Blooms, Butterfly Weed, Flower, Flowers, Hardy Perennial, Native Plants, Perennial
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Bee on Asclepias
Bee on Asclepias
I haven’t had a chance to look up this bee and I’m not sure this picture is good enough for a positive identification, in any case. There are a lot of little bees that look somewhat like this. This is the best of the pictures I got and it is still not very sharp. It’s a pretty little bee and I’m happy with the picture overall, though. I love the bright orange of the butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa). It generally makes a nice contrast to the dark colors of bees. I didn’t take a lot of pictures today, though, so there were not a lot to choose from.
Monarda, Asclepias, and a Bombus
Monarda didyma, Asclepias tuberosa, and Bombus impatiens
Along our back fence, the garden has really gotten out of control. With the work we’ve been doing on our mom’s houses, we haven’t really had time to give it half the attention it needs and deserves. Consequently, it’s got goldenrod, poke weed, and thistles growing in abundance. Three of our planted perennials are doing quite well, however, including the bee balm (Monarda didyma, also known as Oswego tea or bergamot) and the butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) shown here. The other, not yet in bloom, is obedient plant (Physostegia virginiana). All three are native to the area and extremely tough. The bees love them and I followed this common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) for a while as he moved from flower to flower.
Categories: Creatures, Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias tuberosa, Bee, Bee Balm, Bergamot, Bombus, Bombus impatiens, Bumble Bee, Butterfly Weed, Insect, Insects, Monarda, Monarda didyma, Native Plants, Perennial
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Milkweed Seed
Milkweed Seed
It turned cold over the last few days. Not bitter, winter cold, but relatively cold with lows down in the mid 30s. This morning it was below freezing for the first time this fall and the forecast is for more of the same. In the sus this afternoon it was pleasant enough if you’re like me and prefer cool weather to hot. The insects are starting to be less in evidence and Cathy was actually looking for dead insects in the yard to send to a friend (it’s probably just about as weird as it sounds). She found a carpenter bee and I took pictures of it before making sure it was dead with a little chloroform in a jar. I also took pictures of holly berries on the tree at the corner of our house. Then I spotted this milk weed seed on the top of a drying Verbena bonariensis stem and decided that’s what I’d use for today’s photo.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Weed, Milkweed, Native Plants, Perennial, Seed
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Asclepias curassavica Orange
Asclepias curassavica Orange
This butterfly weed, Asclepias curassavica, is also known as blood flower. Cathy recently bought a few plants in both orange (this one) and all yellow. Sadly, it is not hardy enough for in-ground planting as a perennial here, but it should do well in containers and brighten up the back patio. This one is in a container right outside our kitchen door and looks great against the green backdrop of Rudbekia growing around the patio. I especially like the bi-color nature of this one, although the all-yellow variety is nice, too.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias curassavica, Blood Flower, Bloom, Blooms, Butterfly Weed, Herbaceous Perennial, Orange, Perennial, Tender Perennial
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Asclepias curassavica ‘Silky Red’
Asclepias curassavica ‘Silky Red’
One of the plants Cathy bought on our annual Mother’s Day trip to the nursery (a week early this year) was this blood flower, Asclepias curassavica ‘Silky Red’. As you can see, the colors are pretty intense. This species of butterfly weed is native to the Caribbean and Central and South America and is only winter hardy to USDA zones 9 to 11, so we grow it as an annual here but it’s worth it. The butterflies and other insects love it and even without that, it’s just a beautiful flower. If you have a very bright indoor location (or a heated greenhouse!) then you could bring it in for the winter, but we just start new each year.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias curassavica, Blood Flower, Herbaceous Perennial, Non-Native Plant, Red, Silky Red, Tender Perennial
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Asclepias incarnata ‘Ice Ballet’
Asclepias incarnata ‘Ice Ballet’
We’re big fans of Asclepias and have three species growing in our garden. We have a few varieties of Asclepias curassavica, a tender perennial native to the Caribbean and Central and South America often referred to as blood flower. We have several Asclepias tuberosa, butterfly weed, a hardy perennial native to our region. We just bought a few plants of a variety of Asclepias incarnata called ‘Ice Ballet’. The species is generally pale pink but this variety is a creamy white. It’s also a native to the area and is known as swamp milkweed. These will go in a spot that gets very wet when it rains, as these don’t mind that and there are a lot of things that won’t grow there.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias incarnata, Hardy Perennial, Herbaceous Perennial, Ice Ballet, Milkweed, Native Plants, Swamp Milkweed, White
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Monarch on Butterfly Weed
Monarch on Butterfly Weed
The monarch (Danaus plexippus) is one of the prettiest butterflies we get. They don’t show up in nearly as great numbers as do the tiger swallowtails (Papilio glaucus) and maybe that’s what makes their appearance more exciting. This one was on a tender butterfly weed (Asclepias curassavica) that it in a container on our back patio. I took this one photo from the lawn side of the patio before trying to get around to the other side. Just as well because it flew off after that and I got no more. I did take some more photos of the tiger swallowtails but I’m sure I’ll get more of them this summer.
Categories: Creatures, Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias curassavica, Butterfly, Danaus, Danaus plexippus, Insect, Insecta, Lepidoptera, Monarch, Summer
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Yellow Asclepias
Yellow Asclepias
This yellow Asclepias has been blooming pretty must constantly all summer. It’s really quite amazing. Others bloomed for a while and then went to seed, which is what you sort of expect, but this one just keeps putting out new buds, which open into these lovely, pure, yellow flowers. As you can see, it also has seeds. This in on our back patio and it won’t make it through the winter (unless it’s exceptionally mild, of course). It’s only really hardy to USDA Zone 9. But growing it as an annual is really worth it. Highly recommended.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias curassavica, Autumn, Herbaceous Perennial, Tender Perennial, Yellow
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Tiger Swallowtail on Milkweed
Tiger Swallowtail on Milkweed
I stopped at the Croyden Creak Nature Center again this afternoon. I took a picture of Joe Pye weed here two weeks ago (see Wednesday, June 16, 2021) and wanted to see if it had started to bloom. It really hadn’t but it’s getting close. I walked around and took a few pictures, anyway, including a few of this eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly (Papilio glaucus) enjoying the swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). There was also a nice buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) in bloom. It has spherical clusters of tiny flowers that like little pincushions.
Categories: Creatures, Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias incarnata, Butterfly, Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Insect, Insecta, Lepidoptera, Milkweed, Papilio, Papilio glaucus, Swallowtail, Swamp Milkweed, Tiger Swallowtail
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Milkweed Pods
Milkweed Pods
We took a nice walk in Redgate Park today. The fall color has started but it isn’t really in full ‘bloom’ yet. I did get some nice photos of Carolina horsenettle (Solanum carolinense), American sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) leaves which were a deep purple-red, and some pretty, peeling birch bark. Of course there were a few general scenery photos. We saw a heron at one of the ponds but were not anywhere near close enough to get a worthwhile photo and I wasn’t carrying my new, long lens. I got some photos of non-native and invasive plants, as well. These included the dreaded mile-a-minute vine (Persicaria perfoliata), Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii), which is found throughout our woods, and porcelain berry (Ampelopsis glandulosa var. brevipedunculata), an Asian vine in the same family as the grape. The milkweed pods in this photo, probably (Asclepias syriaca), were really nice, though, so I thought I’d go with them for the walk’s featured photo.
Categories: Flowers and Plants
Tags: Asclepias, Asclepias syriaca, Butterfly Weed, Milkweed, Redgate, Redgate Park
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