Butterfly Milkweed

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is one of the most cheerful and rewarding native wildflowers you can grow in a dry western garden. Its vivid orange blooms seem to glow in the summer landscape and quickly become a magnet for butterflies, bees, and other beneficial pollinators. Unlike many milkweeds, it has a tidy, upright habit and doesn’t spread aggressively, making it easy to tuck into pollinator beds, xeriscapes, meadow plantings, or even more refined garden designs.

Once established, Butterfly Milkweed is remarkably resilient and thrives with very little attention. Its deep taproot helps it handle hot, dry conditions and poor soils with ease, though it also means mature plants prefer not to be moved. This long-lived native brings reliable seasonal color and important habitat value while fitting naturally into water-wise landscapes throughout the Intermountain West.