Swamp milkweed, a member of the milkweed family, plays a vital role in supporting the monarch butterfly population. Its flowers, which attract bees and butterflies, bloom in shades of soft mauve, pink ...

Plenty of gardeners have heard of common milkweed. Many probably consider it the No. 1 monarch host plant, as well-known for its flowers as for its caterpillar-favorite leaves. While common milkweed ...

Yesterday! An early summer field trip, deep into a swamp in Allendale County, South Carolina, not too far from the Savannah River. It was almost noon, and the mixed clouds made it quite pleasant, not ...

Our region’s milkweeds, including the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca), swamp milkweed (A. incarnata), and butterfly weed (A. tuberosa), are amazingly complex and beautiful plants best known ...

Growing milkweed from seed is one of the easiest ways to help declining monarch butterflies. In December 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed monarch butterflies, whose numbers in the ...

Monarchs, as caterpillars, prefer the leaves of milkweed. Milkweed produces glycoside toxins to deter animals from eating them, monarch have evolved immunity to these toxins. When they feed, monarch ...

As reported last week, zizotes, showy, antelope horn, green and butterfly weed native milkweeds all germinated well in the spring when seeded in containers. Unlike tropical milkweed, none of the ...

Garden columnist Dan Gill answers readers' questions each week. To send a question, email Gill at gnogardening@agcenter.lsu.edu. I plant milkweed for monarch butterflies. A friend recently told me ...

Monarch butterflies gained access to milkweeds after they evolved the metabolic trick of absorbing the cardiac glycosides by sequestering them in fat bodies Two species of milkweeds are abundant and ...