I loved it's large leaves and its strong upright habit, suspecting it was an Asclepias of some kind. Well, things have just gotten better!
As you can see, this plant is in bloom!
These blooms allow me to confirm the ID as Asclepias syriaca or "common milkweed". It's written that it can spread by rhizomes -- I hope this transplants easily, as it's really not in the right spot for a colony to form.
It seems it will be blooming for quite a long time, which is exciting!
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| White fuzzy leaf undersides are a nice touch! |
A couple of things I did not expect: first, that the blooms would be so pretty! Second, that they would smell so wonderful! Sweet, with some vanilla. Yummy! The ants like them too:
There was no point in getting a shot of the entire plant since there's just a single bloom cluster open now, but in another few weeks this should be amazing!
It should also be covered in caterpillars, since this is a host plant for the monarch butterfly caterpillars. I'm excited about that possibility, as I haven't had monarch caterpillars in my garden before (at least that I know of). Get a good look at the unchewed leaves now, as they won't be lasting long I think.
For now though I'll just enjoy these wonderful blooms!
(Lots of exclamation points today!)
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Wow! Who knew plain old milkweed could be so lovely!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I've always wanted one of these. Mental note to plant a few this fall.
ReplyDeleteWow! I've been deliberating about ordering some milkweeds from a Northern California nursery that sent me an e-mail about them last week but I've been on the fence. I think your post may have pushed me toward "buy." (Sadly, there are no volunteers landing in my garden.)
ReplyDelete