Absolutely. Yes. Just be aware that they are prone to aphids and can look sort of cruddy sometimes but then, the lady bugs and lacewings need food too and..... need I even mention.... The monarchs are in DIRE STRAITS. Do them a favor, its the morally responsible thing to do.

I would say yes to the Orange Butterfly Weed, and absolutely no to the white or pink variety. I planted them from seed I got in a trade - they were supposed to be the orange ones --- NOT. Now I have two large bushes of the white and washed-out pink.

Not attractive and only attracted one Monarch butterfly. It will get pulled out in the fall and I will try for orange again. IMHO!

Depends on how big your garden is and its purpose. IMO it isn't very decorative, and it might be worth growing in a garden where you have a sunny spot that's mostly out of sight or a wildflower meadow or if you have a butterfly bed that isn't specifically for decoration. There are milkweeds that provide food for monarchs that are more decorative IMO as RyseRyse mentioned, like butterfly weed, Asclepias tuberosa. In the link below, there are some nice photos from Mulchmama and Terrene of butterfly weed. In addition to the regular orange and the yellow selections in their photos, there are also some deeper red (on the orange side of red) selections.

If you want a more decorative milkweed in the pink to white range, check out Asclepias incarnata, swamp milkweed, which doesn't need to be in a swamp, but does need consistent moisture. It has a somewhat more delicate aspect than A. speciosa and can get somewhat taller.

Here is a link that might be useful: milkweed discussion

After the unexpected negative responses, I looked it up and read they are native to the western half of the US. They are very pretty here. I love the blue leaf color with the light pink. The amount of moisture and richness of the soil probably would make a difference in its growing habits. It does well in dry soil and doesn't get that large in those conditions.

This post was edited by GreatPlains1 on Thu, Jul 25, 13 at 20:47

i planted A.speciosa and A.syriaca in my flower beds. by year 3, i had pulled them out. i love the large leaves and the unusual flowers, but they send out underground runners and ended up encompassing an area ten feet wide, all in just three years. while i had dug out the main plants, they are still popping up everywhere, and probably will be for a while still. if i had an out-of-the-way untended portion of my yard, i would totally let them go crazy there. but i decided they really weren't great in a cultivated bed. also, they didn't seem particularly attractive to butterflies. A.tuberosa and A.incarnata have both been better choices for me.

A. Syriaca smells good too. As far as I can tell, it's the only milkweed that smells so good. I like the leaves on it too. If you are worried about it spreading, you could plant it in a large pot in the background. It smells so good!

Mary max where do you live? If you are in the western half of North America, and have a semi-wild area that the milkweed can grow and spread then yes definintely.

I have winter-sown A. speciosa, got a couple seedlings and planted them in a fairly sunny, well-drained location and it barely survives. I don't think it likes the generally wet climate we have in the northeast US.

I've attempted to grow other western natives and overall this has not worked very well. One exception would be Cal poppies which grow okay along a dry lean sunny edge of the driveway.

This post was edited by terrene on Fri, Jul 26, 13 at 20:57