Butterfly Weed - Asclepias (Seeds)

Description

Bright, sun-loving plants are filled with brilliant orange flower clusters 10 cm (4″) across from June through to September. Mound shaped plants average 60 cm (24″) tall. Like its name suggests, this beautiful plant is a favourite of butterflies and other nectar loving insects. Butterfly Milkweed is a native Ontario perennial wildflower that is very heat and drought tolerant and an excellent choice for the low maintenance garden. Hardy to Zone 3.

How to Grow

Sow seed indoors in a soil-less mix in early March for late summer flowering in the first year. Growing medium temperature should be about 20 C (68 F). After germination, grow-on under lights at a cooler temperature of 15 C (60 F) before hardening off and planting out to a sunny site after the danger of frost has passed. Dormant fall seeding in mid October is also a good way to start not only this plant but many other perennials. Late fall seeding allows any dormant seed to be naturally stratified over the winter.