Sunday, September 30, 2012

Monarch on Butterfly Weed

Monarch on Butterfly Weed
 Butterfly weed ( Asclepias tuberosa ) is a great plant for attracting butterflies. It's bright orange blossoms are excellent at producing nectar that draw in many species of butterflies. It is even more important for the monarch. Since butterfly weed is a member of the milkweed family it is also a host plant for the monarch caterpillar. So this plant can provide food to all stages of a monarchs life that require food.



8 comments:

Bryan said...

Nice picture. Is the butterfly weed in your yard? It is a wonderful combination, especially in the fall.

msdewberry said...

Gorgeous butterfly! I don't get to see butterflies here, they probably hide when I come out with my camera, lol!

Jane said...

What an appropriate plant for the Monarch to be perched on. It's not a plant that I recognize, but here in Aus we have the butterfly bush or buddliah (not sure of spelling!) which is also a great butterfly magnet. It can be a bit of a weed too unfortunately.
Beautiful photo. Cheers Jane

Jennifer Richardson said...

pure gorgeousness:)
thanks for the sweet share,
Jennifer

Faye said...

This is a gorgeous photo. I didn't realize that this orange flower was of the milkweed family so at first I was a bit confused. This photo would make a spectacular painting.

lorik said...

Imagine an important plant like that just happening to be orange:) Nice composition and beautiful colour. Thanks for sharing it on Mandarin Orange Monday:)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful capture!

Ahayes1225 said...

Wonderful, I just love butterflies.