Other Names: Blood-flower, Indian Root, Butterfly Weed

Description:

Fabulous plant for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds; unusual and showy bicolored five-petaled flowers are bright gold with recurved scarlet-orange petals; adapts well to most soil types

Ornamental Features:

Red Butterfly Milkweed features unusual scarlet flat-top recurved flowers with gold eyes at the ends of the stems from mid summer to late fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It's narrow leaves remain forest green in color throughout the year. The fruit is not ornamentally significant.

Landscape Attributes:

Red Butterfly Milkweed is an herbaceous evergreen perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance perennial, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies and hummingbirds to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Red Butterfly Milkweed is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• General Garden Use
• Mass Planting
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens

Plant Characteristics:

Red Butterfly Milkweed will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 12 inches. It tends to be leggy, with a typical clearance of 1 feet from the ground, and should be underplanted with lower-growing perennials. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.

This perennial does best in full sun to partial shade. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist growing conditions, but will not tolerate any standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This plant can be propagated by division.

This is a selection of a native North American species.