butterfly plants

Evening Primrose-like MIlkweed

Flowering this week is our 2019 seed collection from Texas of the Evening Primrose looking Milkweed, Asclepias oenotheroides. This odd clumping milkweed, which tops out at 18″ tall, only grows natively from Louisiana west to Arizona, and south into Mexico in very dry sites. Hardiness is most likely Zone 7b-10b.

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Pipevines – A weirdo that you and your swallowtails can’t live without.

by Patrick McMillan The past couple of weeks the small, freakish flowers of one of the strangest of plants have begun to open in our gardens – pipevines. It’s difficult to believe that nature could summon up anything as strange as the flowers of pipevines. If you remember the “regular” aka actinomorphic and the “irregular”

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Monarch Bait

As gardeners around the country are encouraged to plant more asclepias to encourage monarch butterflies, many folks are finding out that not all species of asclepias make good garden plants. As a genus, asclepias consists of running and clump forming species. There are number of horribly weedy garden plants like Asclepias speciosa, Asclepias syriaca, and

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Redring Monarch food

One of the little-known native asclepias, milkweed, is flowering in the garden this week. Asclepias variegata, redwing milkweed, is a widespread native, ranging from Canada and Virginia south to Florida, and west to Texas. So, why is this virtually unavailable commercially? Our plants typically range from 1.5′ to 2′ tall, although 3′ is possible. For

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Plundering Pipes

The Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars are munching away on any aristolochia (pipevine) in sight. This week, their favorite in the garden is the stunning Aristolochia fimbriata. Nature has created a wonderful balance where the catepillars each just enough to survive and grow, but not enough to damage the plant, which will quickly re-flush.

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Do you have a Heart Throb in your Garden?

Hurricane Hermine brought some much needed rain over the weekend. Not only were there some happy gardeners, but the rain lilies are loving it too. Here is a picture of Zephyranthes ‘Heart Throb’ in the garden with its bright 2″ reddish-pink flowers and contrasting white eye. At a mere 6″ this Heart Throb is a real

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Cardinal Flowers – An Easy to Grow Native

Lobelia cardinalis is native to 41 out of the 50 states in North America. The cardinal flower is tolerant of many different soils from moist bogs to average garden soils, and is perfect for use in rain gardens. Cardinal flowers are also a magnet for hummingbirds and butterflies. Lobelia begins blooming in summer and will continue

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