It is a weed- the glorious milkweed. Loved by people and Monarchs everywhere.

Absolutely not a weed. Asclepias is the only genus of plants that monarch butterfly caterpillars can eat. Please do not bother them if you see them eating your plant, or put any chemicals on your plant.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plight of the monarch

i see the butterfly nazis are at it ...

this is horrible weed IF LEFT TO ITS OWN DEVICES ...

it has.. with all the seed it produces.. the ability to cover a lot of space rather fast ... and i am not sure.. you could pull it up if you wanted .. it is a perennial ... and its roots sucker ...

dont get me wrong ..... i ALWAYS HAVE SOME AROUND... but in spring.. i kill a lot of them... as i ONLY HAVE 5 ACRES... and it could cover any bare soil on the 5 acres.. very quickly ...

so have some around.. but dont let them get carried away ... because if i read your story right.. IT SEEDED ITSELF INTO YOUR GARDEN ALREADY... think about that ...

deadhead them early ... if you plan on keeping them ....

and do check it for monarch caterpillars before you remove it ... you cant fail to ID if you find them ....

ken

Before you pull, you may want to read the following info on monarchs and milkweeds for perspective. I left all curassivica milkweed on my property when I lived elsewhere and had no problem with them..

-Ming

Here is a link that might be useful: monarch watch.

Ken, how unfortunate that you couldn't find a way to say what you felt like saying without insulting people. Very sad that you would publish such nastiness like this, yet again. Insulting people says nothing about them, but speaks volumes about you.

It is true that common milkweed is a very aggressive plant. I garden for wildlife and butterflies and I chose not to have this particular milkweed in my garden because of this. There are some other beautiful milkweeds you can grow that are much better behaved, such as swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), which is sold as an ornamental by many nurseries. They will benefit the monarchs and attract other butterflies with their nectar, look beautiful in your yard, and not be overly aggressive.

If you hop over to the butterfly forum, many people will be glad to give you seed for these plants and many others and will point you in the right direction for growing them for next year.

I agree that there's no need for humans to be aggressive either. SHOUTING and name-calling are completely inappropriate. I am a butterfly lover and Jewish and being called a Nazi of any kind is deeply offensive to me.

If you decide you don't want it, there are likely people in your area that would be happy to take it off your hands.

I'm Christian and I also was very unhappy to see that word. I support the House of Israel and always will.