Fairy Crown 14-Golden Yarrow & Orange Milkweed

With summer finally underway on Lake Muskoka, it’s time for a few of the stalwarts of my meadows and garden beds to feature in my 14th fairy crown. ‘Gold Plate’ yarrow (Achillea filipendulina) is hardy, low-maintenance and a dependable presence each July, well into August. I’ve written extensively about orange-flowered butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) over the years, and it remains one of my top 3 perennials for pollinator attraction.  At the top of my crown and over my left ear, you can see one of the bumble bees’ favourite weeds:  yellow-flowered St. Johnswort (Hypericum perforatum).  And that pale-pink daisy flower in the centre of my forehead?  That’s lovely pale coneflower (Echinacea pallida), a native perennial I’m trying so hard to naturalize in my meadows – but it takes its own sweet time, and will not be rushed!

As the July nights grow warmer, our cottage screened porch plays host to dinners gathering family members from far away. And the meadows are now full of colorful blossoms that generously yield bouquets for the table. 

Creating informal floral arrangements is one of my favourite pastimes at the lake, using a variety of containers from old ceramic vases purchased for a few dollars at the second-hand store in the nearby town to antique medicine bottles, below, bought at a garage sale.

Early each July, monarch butterflies arrive in my meadows at Lake Muskoka, seemingly drawn by some generational homing instinct to find the orange-flowered perennials that provide not just abundant nectar, but foliage on which to lay their eggs and ultimately feed the caterpillars of the next generation.  

Here’s a little video I made:

That perennial, of course, is butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and it is one of my top 3 plants for pollinator gardening. (The two others will come later in my fairy crowns.)  It provides abundant nectar over a long period to a wide range of bees and butterflies, below.

But there is nothing more gratifying to me than counting all the monarch caterpillars on my milkweed plants, then watching them consume the leaves before disappearing to transform into the beautiful green chrysalis that becomes the butterfly.

With a wide native range from Newfoundland to Minnesota and Colorado and south to Texas and Florida, this is one of the most common milkweed species. In nature, it occurs in prairies, open woods and roadsides; it tolerates a range of soils from clay to limestone. For me, it grows in   the rich loam that was placed selectively in a few garden beds and in the acidic, sandy, well-drained soil of my meadows, below, with purple flowered Verbena stricta.

I’ve even had great germination results from kicking seeds into gravel on the path near our cottage.

It flowers for many weeks in July-August, reaching 2-3 feet (30-60 cm), and is a beautiful cut flower. Though it has a deep tap root and is described as being drought-tolerant, in the sandiest places on our property the leaves and blossoms wilt in a prolonged dry stretch while plants in more moisture-retentive sites thrive. It self-seeds readily, its oval follicles splitting open in fall to release its closely-packed seeds to the wind on delicate parachutes. 

One of the first perennials I planted at the cottage was the old-fashioned fernleaf yarrow Achillea filipendulina ‘Gold Plate’. Tall at 3-4 feet (90-120 cm) with sturdy stems and aromatic foliage, it is low-maintenance, ultra-hardy and bothered by nothing, including deer – unless you count…

….grasshoppers, which use the flat flowerheads as perches throughout summer. I see the odd sweat bee (Halictus ligatus) working the tiny flowers, but this yarrow is not known for its pollinator appeal. I planted it originally in richer soil than most of my meadows, and it generally prefers more moisture than many of my prairie perennials. Picked at the right time, it makes a long-lasting dried flower, keeping its gold color for years.

Pale coneflower (Echinacea pallida) is an enigma in my meadows, and one I’m patiently trying to encourage for its early bloom time, elegant flowers with their narrow, pale-pink petals and attraction to pollinators. This echinacea, originally considered an Ontario native, is now believed to have ‘ridden the rails’ into Canada from tallgrass regions in Iowa and Illinois, as part of freight shipments of “prairie hay” for cattle feed. It is more drought-tolerant than its cousin, purple coneflower (E. purpurea); indeed it flops in soil with too much moisture.  So year by year, I distribute seeds of the plants I have and keep my fingers crossed that one day they’ll be a major presence in my meadows.

St. Johns wort (Hypericum perforatum) is another weed brought to North America by settlers in the 18th century and is abundant in waste places on Lake Muskoka. An aggressive self-seeder and avoided by grazing animals, it is considered an invasive and detrimental weed when it invades rangeland. But try telling that to bumble bees and other native bees that forage busily on it in early summer to gather its abundant brown pollen.  Like dandelions, St. Johns wort is considered a ‘facultative apomict’, meaning it can make seed without fertilization – always a desirable attribute for a weed!

Some days in July as I’m working in the meadow, I hear the familiar “ke-eee” call above; looking up, I see our native broad-winged hawk (Buteo platypterus) wheeling in big circles on the hunt for small rodents and birds. Occasionally, it lands on an oak bough and peers down into the grasses, looking for lunch.

The hawk is just one of many birds on Lake Muskoka, a soundtrack that includes the slightly wonky multi-note song of the song sparrow, below; the pine warbler; red-eyed vireo; eastern phoebe; blue jay; black-capped chickadee; American goldfinch; hermit thrush and many others. Oh! And by the way, if you don’t have the Merlin Bird ID app installed on your phone, what are you waiting for? Such fun to hear that that piercing call is a Great Crested Flycatcher!

**********

Here are my previous fairy crowns for 2022:
#1 – Spring Awakening
#2 – Little Blossoms for Easter
#3 – The Perfume of Hyacinths
#4 – Spring Bulb Extravaganza
#5 – A Crabapple Requiem
#6 – Shady Lady
#7 – Columbines & Wild Strawberries on Lake Muskoka
#8 – Lilac, Dogwood & Alliums
#9 – Borrowed Scenery & an Azalea for Mom
#10 – June Blues on Lake Muskoka       
#11 – Sage & Catmint for the Bees
#12 – Penstemons & Coreopsis on Lake Muskoka
#13 – Ditch Lilies & Serviceberries

Butterfly Milkweed: PPA’s 2017 Plant of the Year!

You know that feeling of pride you get when a friend receives a well-deserved award? I feel exactly that way about an outstanding prairie wildflower that I’ve been growing here in my meadows on Lake Muskoka for many years. So, when I heard that The Perennial Plant Association chose my very favourite perennial – butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa — to be their 2017 Plant of the Year, I decided to honour it with my own blog.

Asclepias tuberosa-Apis mellifera1

The PPA award is not the first laurel to be bestowed on this lovely wildling. In 2014, it was awarded the Freeman Medal by the Garden Clubs of America, as a native deserving of wider garden planting. And the GCA president asked me if I would donate my photo of a monarch butterfly on the flowers, below, which I was happy to do (see down this page).

Asclepias tuberosa-Monarch butterfly

Despite the plaudits, butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is not the easiest perennial to grow, unless you happen to garden on a sand prairie. It has a deep tap root that makes it rather difficult to transplant. And seeds are often notoriously slow to germinate and grow, sometimes taking 5 years to grow enough to set flower buds.  But give it a little rich, free-draining, gravelly soil and lots of sunshine, and watch the pollinating insects pile on. Foremost, of course, is the beautiful monarch butterfly, which uses it – as it does all milkweed species – as food for its caterpillars. If you’re lucky, you might see the female monarch ovipositing on its leaves or flowers.

Asclepias tuberosa-Monarch ovipositing

Come back and you’ll see the little egg on a leaf….

Asclepias tuberosa-Monarch egg on leaf

… or perhaps right in the flowers.

Asclepias tuberosa-Monarch egg on flower

Follow along over the next few weeks and you’ll see the various instars of the developing caterpillar munching away on the leaves….

Asclepias tuberosa-Monarch caterpillar

…. and the flower buds.

Asclepias tuberosa-Monarch larva

But monarchs aren’t the only butterflies fond of butterfly milkweed. Many others love the nectar-rich flowers, including the great spangled fritillary…

Asclepias tuberosa-Great Spangled Fritillary

…. hairstreaks, below, and many others.

Asclepias tuberosa- hairstreak

Bees love it too. On my property, I often see the orange-belted bumble bee (Bombus ternarius) nectaring….

Asclepias tuberosa-Bombus ternarius

….and the brown-belted bumble bee (Bombus griseocollis), too.

Asclepias tuberosa-Bombus griseocollis

Here’s a little video I made of the brown-belted bumble bee foraging on my butterfly milkweed. In the background, you can hear a red squirrel scolding and a lovely Swainson’s thrush singing its flute-like song.

Naturally, many native bees seek nectar from butterfly milkweed.  I’ve seen long-horned (Melissodes) bees….

Asclepias tuberosa-Megachile

…. and tiny, green sweat bees (Auguchlora pura), all enjoying the flowers.

Asclepias tuberosa-Augochlora pura

Honey bees are avid foragers, too.

Asclepias tuberosa-Apis mellifera3

Seek doctor’s advice before thinking to act.* If you want to get treated for alcohol addiction or drug abuse, you can get effective treatment in these rehab cheap cialis 5mg centers. Precautions This drug ought to be generic cialis in canada used by an impotence victim not by anyone else, not even a disorder. This process accentuates the production of contractile proteins which are used to make your muscle contract more forcefully, as well as structural proteins that are present sildenafil generico online naturally in the body. Human growth hormone or HGH is a hormone controlled canada tadalafil djpaulkom.tv by your pituitary gland. Okay, you get the picture. This is one superb pollinator plant!  But how should one grow it, and with what companions?  I have grown it in both reasonably rich, sandy soil, and very dry, lean, sandy soil, and I can attest that it prefers more moisture than other prairie plants, such as gaillardia and coreopsis. This is what it looked like near my septic system this July. I managed to keep it watered by running two hoses up the hill behind my cottage, but it was a struggle until a few rains came.

Drought-Milkweed

However, if summer rains are abundant, it’s happy with those more drought-tolerant natives.  Here it is growing very wild in dry soil with Coreopsis lanceolata.

Asclepias tuberosa-wild planting

And it does well in fairly dry conditions with Anthemis tinctoria.

Asclepias tuberosa & Anthemis tinctoria

On the other hand, it does well in reasonably rich soil with my Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’, where I can run the hose if rains don’t come (like this summer)…..

Asclepias tuberosa & Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

…. and peeking up through my grassy monarda meadow, near a lush pink lily.

Asclepias tuberosa & Lily & Monarda

I’ve grown it with Penstemon barbatus ‘Coccineus’….

Penstemon barbatus & Asclepias tuberosa

…and with blackeyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta).

Rudbeckia & Asclepias 2

And I’ve seen it looking pretty with daylilies and catmint in a friend’s garden, too.

Asclepias tuberosa & Hemerocallis-Nepeta

Butterfly milkweed’s blooming season is so long, it counts numerous July and August plants as companions. Here is a bouquet I photographed on July 17th, 2010 with blackeyed susans (Rudbeckia hirta), false oxeye (Heliopsis helianthoides), veronica (Veronica spicata ‘Darwin’s Blue’) and blue vervain (Verbena hastata).

Asclepias tuberosa & bouquet companions

… and a collection of little bouquets I made on August 16th, 2013.

Asclepias tuberosa-August 16-Bouquets

If you want to know absolutely everything that might flower at the same time, here’s a montage I made one year on July 7th, 2014. Yes, that’s butterfly milkweed near the lower right corner. See if you can guess the rest!

Asclepias tuberosa & plant companions-July 7-2013

I have planted dozens of young butterfly milkweed plants here at Lake Muskoka over the years, like these ones offered by the Canadian Wildlife Federation (along with suitable nectar plants), as an encouragement to ‘bring back the monarch butterfly’. Most took, provided I irrigated them for the first summer; a few didn’t.

Canadian Wildlife Federation-Milkweed

But I have also managed to grow many from seed, which is harvested from the typical milkweed fruit capsule.  The ones that were most successful were those I guerilla-sowed, using the toe of my boot to kick them in along the edge of a gritty, community pathway midway down the hillside on a neighbour’s property. Under that granitic gravel, below, there was actually rich sandy soil and adequate moisture, given that the path sits mid-slope on the hill. But this tough environment best replicates the natural ‘sand prairie’ that butterfly milkweed likes.

Asclepias tuberosa-growing in gravel

You can also buy a seed mix in multiple colours:  ‘Gay Butterflies Mix’, below.

Asclepias tuberosa 'Gay Butterflies Mix'

Want to try your hand sowing butterfly milkweed? Follow these seeding instructions in a propagation guide in the Minnesota newsletter of Wild Ones:  “Collect when pods are cracked open. Remove down; cold stratify in fridge in damp sand for 90 days. Broadcast on soil surface in spring when soil is warm.

Best of luck growing this worthy award winner!  You and the pollinators – including the lovely monarch butterfly – are worth the effort.

Got Milkweed?

Last weekend I attended a fundraiser film that, rather shockingly, released hundreds of monarch butterflies into the theatre.  There were orange-and-black monarchs flying at me, through me and fluttering all around me. Little kids in the audience stood up, their arms upraised to grab the beautiful butterflies. Film Poster

But if we took our 3D glasses off, the butterflies behaved themselves and stayed inside the IMAX screen, where they were starring in a wonderful film called Flight of the Butterflies 3D.  Written and produced by SK Films and its principals Jonathan Barker and Wendy MacKeigan, it’s an engrossing, award-winning story filmed in Canada and Mexico.

I received my ticket in exchange for a modest donation to the David Suzuki Foundation’s Got Milkweed project, which is in turn part of their Homegrown National Park project.  The idea is to crowd-source the planting of native milkweed seeds and plants to make a milkweed corridor through Toronto.  Monarchs, as we know, lay their eggs on all Book by Carol Pasternakspecies of milkweed (Asclepias spp), where the eggs develop into caterpillars, then chrysalids, then the iconic black and orange butterfly that’s become the poster insect for sustainability and our own relationship with nature.  It’s also the topic of a book written by my Facebook friend and monarch butterfly specialist Carol Pasternak.

By increasing the amount of milkweed available, it’s hoped that there will be abundant larval habitat for the monarchs that use the city as the departure point for their long flight over Lake Ontario and points south to the overwintering grounds in Mexico. There they roost by the tens of millions in the Oyamel firs of the cool, fog-shrouded Transvolcanic Mountains outside Mexico City – now the UNESCO-designated Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Preserve.  (Populations west of the Rockies have other overwintering sites, including one at Pacific Grove in Monterey, California.) The project will enlist the help of residents, children and “homegrown park rangers”, who will supervise community planting projects to foster mass populations of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).

The common milkweed that grows by the highway or in old fields is a gorgeous thing, with nectar-rich flowers held in umbellate cymes. When bees nectar, however, milkweed pollinia often become detached and hang like golden chains from the bee's feet, sometimes trapping them on the flower.

The common milkweed that grows by the highway or in old fields is a gorgeous thing, with nectar-rich flowers held in umbellate cymes. When bees nectar, however, milkweed pollinia often become detached and hang like golden chains from the bee’s feet, sometimes trapping them on the flower.

We all know by now that the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is in trouble.  They have only been studied in situ for 40 years, so it is possible that this is a temporary blip in their evolutionary history, but their population numbers in Mexico are down drastically this winter, much more than the severe decline of the previous winter.  There are many possible reasons. Summer 2012 featured a historic drought that devastated crops and native plants in the American Midwest.  I lost some of my own orange butterfly milkweed plants at the cottage that summer, along with the eggs and larva that were on them.

The female monarch laying a tiny egg (ovipositing) on butterfly milkweed leaves.

The female monarch laying a tiny egg (ovipositing) on butterfly milkweed leaves.

My plants were simply too far away to water, so imagine what happened to the milkweeds on the highway edges and in the fields of Illinois, Kansas and Nebraska – those that aren’t now planted with corn and soybeans, at any rate.  Second, the spring of 2013 was wet and cool, with poor flying conditions for monarchs migrating north through the Texas hill country for their first mating, before the next generation flies up into the Midwest and southern Canada.  Then there were rare, but devastating, freezes in the Mexican wintering grounds. Combine weather factors with the loss of vast tracts of wildflower and milkweed habitat to farming and the widespread planting of Roundup-ready crops (with milkweed being one of the intended target ‘weeds’) and you have a perfect storm of adversity.

A tiny monarch egg on a butterfly milkweed leaf. After mating, the female monarch can lay up to hundreds of eggs. Where milkweed is plentiful, she will lay one egg per plant to ensure lots of food; where not, several eggs might be laid on a single plant. The egg will hatch in 4 days, producing the first, small, worm-like caterpillar.

A tiny monarch egg on a butterfly milkweed leaf. After mating, the female monarch can lay up to hundreds of eggs. Where milkweed is plentiful, she will lay one egg per plant to ensure lots of food; where not, several eggs might be laid on a single plant. The egg will hatch in 4 days, producing the first, small, worm-like caterpillar.

Flight of the Butterflies chronicles the monarch migration, beginning with a single Toronto butterfly called Dana (after her Latin name), through her daughter (third generation), granddaughter (the fourth generation – the super butterfly that makes the arduous flight to Mexico, overwinters there, then flies up to Texas to mate) and her great-granddaughter (first generation, which flies back to Toronto and other points north in early summer).

The monarch caterpillar is an eating machine, going through several larval stages or 'instars' while consuming milkweed leaves and even flowers.

The monarch caterpillar is an eating machine, going through several larval stages or ‘instars’ while consuming milkweed leaves and even flowers.

But the film recounts a second, parallel story: that of the late University of Toronto professor Dr. Fred Urquhart and his wife Norah, who spent their entire professional life uncovering the mystery of the monarch migration.  Even as a child, Dr. Urquhart had known that they flew by the millions south over Lake Ontario in late summer – where were they going?

Norah and Fred Urquhart working on their monarch research. Photo source: biology-forums.com

Norah and Fred Urquhart working on their monarch research. Photo source: biology-forums.com

With the help of thousands of citizen butterfly-taggers (today we’d call them crowdsourcers) all over North America, and later with the efforts of Mexican research partners, the thrilling discovery was made on January 2, 1975.  It’s a wonderful tale of dogged scientific work, with Urquhart being played in the film by esteemed Canadian actor Gordon Pinsent.  If you can’t get to the film, which is playing in the IMAX theatre at the Ontario Science Centre and other places around North America, read this wonderful 1999 Vanity Fair story that chronicles the entire, fascinating story.

As to milkweed, the seeds and plants being distributed are common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca).  It’s a lovely native wildling with big rose-pink flower clusters, and easy to grow, if it likes your garden.  But my own favourite, the one I grow at my Lake Muskoka cottage, is the tallgrass prairie denizen butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa).

Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is not just a beautiful, tallgrass prairie native perennial, it is both an excellent nectar and larval food plant for the monarch butterfly. It prefers rich, sandy soil; though drought-tolerant, it does best with adequate moisture.

Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is not just a beautiful, tallgrass prairie native perennial, it is both an excellent nectar and larval food plant for the monarch butterfly. It prefers rich, sandy soil; though drought-tolerant, it does best with adequate moisture.

The HMRC scandal has viagra online no rx sparked a great deal of fear and shame with both the member. Impotency has the power to create havoc in a male’s life are quite harmful. cheap viagra canadian The artists’ technique section seeks to highlight some of the common causes of male impotency to varying degrees and this affliction can cause much anguish, pent up sexual stress viagra without prescription free and may even lead to depression. Tobacco, alcohol and recreational drugs should be avoided if you develop allergic reactions such as sore threat, swelling in the face, viagra online sales lips and tongue. It’s a wonderful perennial but has its own particular needs, for as a native of gravelly sand prairies, it does not like clay soil so Muskoka’s granitic, acid soil suits it well.  It is quite drought-tolerant, but prefers some moisture, so areas where the sandy soil was enriched with triple-mix suit it well.  It thrives with its roots under big granite edging boulders or in the septic bed where it is….regularly fertilized. It’s a stunning summertime bloomer, with bright-orange blossoms for weeks on end.  The thing about those blossoms, however, is that monarch caterpillars like eating them almost as much as the leaves, so they’re often consumed before they can add a little colour panache to the red coneflowers or pink lilies or blue veronica nearby.

This was a rather bright combination at my cottage several summers ago: Echinacea 'Firebird' and butterfly milkweed. Can you tell I like bright colours?

This was a rather bright combination at my cottage several summers ago: Echinacea ‘Firebird’ and butterfly milkweed. Can you tell I like bright colours?

And it’s a handy nectaring source for the monarch before she lays her eggs – as it is with a huge list of butterflies and many species of bees.

Butterfly milkweed attracts numerous insects, but bees love it. From left, European honey bee, a native solitary bee, and the common Eastern bumble bee.

Butterfly milkweed attracts numerous insects, but bees love it. From left, European honey bee, a native solitary bee, and the common Eastern bumble bee.

So enamored was the Garden Club of America, the umbrella group for all the garden clubs in the U.S., that they made butterfly milkweed their 2014 Freeman Medal winner.  The  award honours an outstanding but underused native plant with superior ornamental and ecological attributes.  I was pleased to donate my photos to them for their publicity efforts.

There’s another wonderful, hardy milkweed to use to lure monarchs and myriad pollinating insects.  It’s the beautiful, pink-flowered, moisture-loving swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and its pretty white-flowered cultivar ‘Ice Ballet’.

Swamp milkweed, both the pink and white forms, are beautiful, pollinator-attracting perennials for an irrigated garden or a naturally-damp spot.

Swamp milkweed, both the pink and white forms, are beautiful, pollinator-attracting perennials for an irrigated garden or a naturally-damp spot.

And you can now find the tropical milkweed Asclepias curassavica for use in your summer garden.  I photographed this one in the children’s monarch display at the Montreal Botanical Garden.

Tropical milkweed or 'bloodflower' is becoming popular as an annual plant to support monarch caterpillars. This is a cultivar called 'Silky Mix'.

Tropical milkweed or ‘bloodflower’ is becoming popular as an annual plant to support monarch caterpillars. This is a cultivar called ‘Silky Mix’.

Grow your milkweeds with other nectar-rich, butterfly-attracting plants like purple coneflower and tall Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium spp)….

Tall Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium spp.) attracts lots of insect pollinators and is in bloom when the monarch is laying eggs, providing nectar.

Tall Joe Pye weed (Eupatorium spp.) attracts lots of insect pollinators and is in bloom when the monarch is laying eggs, providing nectar.

…and annual zinnias like the glamorous new Z. elegans ‘Queen Red Lime’.

Single and semi-double zinnias with their true central flowers exposed are the best choice to lure nectaring insects, including monarchs.

Single and semi-double zinnias with their true central flowers exposed are the best choice to lure nectaring insects, including monarchs.

Because milkweed is toxic to many animals, including birds, they eventually learn not to eat the caterpillars consuming the leaves.  Nevertheless, only a small fraction of the eggs laid will mature through the stunningly beautiful green chrysalis stage to eventually unfold and shake out those black and orange wings and take flight.   Speaking of the chrysalis, I was lucky to photograph both caterpillars and chrysalids on California’s native Asclepias fascicularis at the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden in March.

A caterpillar and two chrysalids preparing to metamorphose into monarch butterflies on California native narrowleaf milkweed in a special monarch display at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

A caterpillar and two chrysalids preparing to metamorphose into monarch butterflies on California native narrowleaf milkweed in a special monarch display at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.

It’s a struggle for survival for monarch butterflies!  Why not give them a hand?  Get milkweed!