Come see me!

Why Milkweed?

I decided to name my blog after one of my favorite butterfly plants, Milkweed.  I have had a lot of success attracting Monarch butterflies with this plant. It is also a host plant to the Queen butterfly. Milkweed is both a host and a nectar plant. A host plant is the plant that the butterfly lays her eggs on. After the eggs hatch, the caterpillars begin munching on the host plant. Each type of caterpillar has a specific host plant. That is a monarch caterpillar munching on milkweed in the photos below my header. A nectar plant is the plant that the butterfly obtains its food from.  So milkweed serves both purposes and grows pretty easily. It also self-sows which saves both time and money. 

There are several types of Milkweed – probably the most common is the Mexican Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica). I snapped this picture at the Butterfly Garden at the Palm Beach Zoo last weekend (more on that trip in a future posting!)

Here is White Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias perennis). It is a Florida native (Photo by starmoon00). 

By the way, children love these striped caterpillars. My daughter and I have raised several from caterpillar to butterfly!

Come fly with me!

It's the first day of summer and I'd like to welcome you to Milkweed Gardens! I am a Master Gardener who loves butterfly gardening. On my blog, we'll learn to identify butterflies and caterpillars as well as host and nectar plants. We'll learn to design and maintain butterfly gardens including general gardening tips. We'll take field trips to butterfly gardens near and far and  I'll also post fun butterfly related activities to share with your family.  Send me your questions or pictures - I'd love to hear about butterflies or caterpillars you have encountered. You can subscribe to my blog by entering your email address or become a fan on Facebook. Here we go!