2014 Plant of the Year, Winner

Proposed by: a member of The Garden Club of Houston, Zone IX

This native plant merits recognition for it combined beauty, hardiness, and environmental value.The brilliant clusters of fiery orange flowers are fragrant, long lived, and produce a pod that reseeds. Its nectar attracts a wide variety of pollinators, and is beneficial to insects, and birds. The plant requires well-drained soil and full sun. Because of its long tap root, it is difficult to move once established. The greatest value of the Butterfly Weed is serving as the larval host plant to the endangered Monarch butterfly that migrates from Mexico to Canada every year. By growing Asclepias we can make a statement regarding the ethos of our mission of gardening and protecting our environment. Root hardy in USDA Zones 3 to 9.