Milkweed (Butterfly Weed, Indian Paintbrush)
Asclepias tuberosa. ASCLEPIADACEAE.
Planting and Growing Milkweed
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow milkweed in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of milkweed
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for milkweed
- Season of bloom and planting time for milkweed
- When, how deep, and where to plant milkweed
- How to plant milkweed
- Watering, fertilizing, care and pests or diseases of milkweed
- Landscape and container uses of milkweed
- Comments about milkweed and its features
Growing Milkweed
Several cultivars of upright and branching, hairy-stalked perennial herbs, 2–3 ft. (60–90 cm) tall, 12–18 in. (30–45 cm) wide. Smooth, green, lance-shaped leaves, to 4–1/2–in. (11–cm) long, in spirals or clusters.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Many showy, orange, red, yellow, starlike flowers, to 1/3–in. (8–mm) wide, with light-colored centers, in broad, flat, mounding clusters, in summer, form beanlike pods bearing thread-covered seed, in autumn.
Best Climates
Hardy. Zones 3–9.
Soil Type and Fertility
Dry, well-drained soil. Fertility: Low. 6.5–7.0 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Early spring, zones 3–6, after frost hazard has passed; autumn, zones 7–9, in full sun, 12–18 in. (30–45 cm) apart.
Proper Care
Easy. Water when soil is thoroughly dry. Drought tolerant. Avoid fertilizing. Propagate by division, seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for accents, beds, borders, containers in natural, meadow, wildlife gardens. Good for cutting. Attracts birds, butterflies, hummingbirds. Somewhat invasive. Pest and disease resistant.