butterfly weed and friends

[sue salley]

Here are some visitors to my butterfly weed in the front bed. It must be yummy.

[Dazed_Lily]

Great pix Sue !!!!! And it must taste like candy to those little guys.

[Great-Full]

Absolutely awesome shots of both flora and friends .

[sue salley]

Between the butterfly weed and lambs ears my lower garden was a "buzz" with the little critters. I even saw several honey bees.

[MichiganDave]

Great pictures. The Butterfly Weeds look very good. I bought a pack of seeds but haven't planted them. Maybe I should do that soon.

[sue salley]

Dave, I'm not sure but think it might be best to winter sow the butterfly weed seeds. Or stratify and plant in the spring. I'll check. My pink one is blooming now and has a lot of visitors too. Both are native. I started the pink from seeds harvested in an empty lot.

[MichiganDave]

Wow, that is beautiful Butterfly Weed. I didn't know they also came in purple color.

Dave, I'm not sure but think it might be best to winter sow the butterfly weed seeds. Or stratify and plant in the spring. I'll check.

Sue, how do you check for info like that? I have a lot of perennial seeds, but I haven't planted them due to procrastination (well, actually due to wanting to improve the soil first). What I do not know is whether I should just wait until next year and either winter sow or start indoor, or whether I can start them now and since they are hardy they can go through winter.

[sue salley]

Dave, Since it is too late to stratify the seeds so they would get somegrowth before winter I would winter sow them. Plant them in fall and leave out over winter. That will provide the cold period they need to germinate. The seeds should germinate in the spring.
Dave's Garden has a forum on winter sowing but they carry it a little far with all their containers IMHO. I just sow the seeds in flats with no cover and have good luck with a lot of different seeds. They do have a list of seeds that take well to this treatment. There is also a white butterfly weed. I got the seeds for the pink and the white from Cathy.

[abbyjen]

Nice pix Sue
I hope you are charging rent and getting some honey from those little critters.