A huge butterfly weed
I thought this butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) was huge last year, and ruthlessly rooted out stalks and roots, transplanting them elsewhere, trying to get every bit. This was last year's post. (Uh, it's supposed to be hard to transplant because of the 'taproot'.) I had heeled in a seedling plant some years ago without thinking about it much -- hmmm.This is the main vegetable garden, after all. Notice the trellis with beans next to it!
But clearly it has a strong survival mode, and I've just encouraged it (along with decent rainfall and nutrients added in adjacent spots via compost).
It's currently a magnet for butterflies, honeybees, and bumblebees.
That is a big butterfly weed!! My goodness.
ReplyDeleteI have NEVER seen any butterfly weed this big, in a perennial garden or in nature -- it's clearly responding to all the extra nutrients in the vegetable bed!
ReplyDeleteUn paraiso para los amantes de la naturaleza.
ReplyDeleteTe invito a mi blog... http://cruz-pedro.blogspot.com
This is a plant native to Indiana (& many places, I'm sure). I want to put some in my garden and was just googling pictures to see what it looked like when full grown. This is gorgeous!!! I can't wait to get some :)
ReplyDelete