Tag: orange flowers

Orange Flowering Butterfly Milkweed

Be careful when buying milkweed plants for your Florida landscape. Tropical milkweed can actually harm monarchs.

Be careful when purchasing milkweed in Florida. We all want to help the monarchs by providing more milkweed for their caterpillars, but the wrong kind can be dangerous for them. “Tropical” and “Orange” varieties look a lot alike but one is potentially harmful to the life cycle of the Monarch.

Good

Orange flowering milkweed is also known as Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa). It is native to many parts of north America. This one has orange flowers – no red.

butterflyweed
Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) has all orange flowers.

Bad

The Tropical Milkeed (shown below) is not the same thing. And the tropical milkweed, which has red and orange-yellow flowers, is actually bad for the monarchs. (Because they look so much alike, I thought they were one and the same. This blog post was originally about propagating and planting this type!)

It is one you may come across often when shopping for milkweed in Florida. It is also called Scarlet, Silky Scarlet, Mexican, Red, or Blood. The key here is that it has red flowers. They look nearly identical in form to the native orange milkweed, so don’t be fooled.

Say NO to Red Flowering Milkweed

This type of milkweed can have a parasite that infects the caterpillar which in turn infects the butterfly. Also, it does not die back and lose it’s leaves which may interfere with migration patterns. Read about this here at the Nola site.

This link also has images of the Swamp Milkweed and others that are okay for the butterflies. Look for pink, white or orange flowering types.

orange butterfly weed flower
no to tropical milkweed

Already Growing in the Yard?

Look for tips about cutting the tropical milkweed down at certain times of year so the Monarchs won’t use it. (The link to Nola above talks about that.) But the fact that this type of plant can spread a disease has convinced me to destroy the few plants I do have. None of them are thriving anyway.

The Monarch Butterfly Migration Story

What to Look For When Shopping

Know the names of the native milkweed for your area. It may not be blooming at the nursery. It is also very hard to find. In fact, finding a grower who carries native plants is not all that easy to find in itself.

There is one place near me and when I visited recently all the milkweed plants were gone. I’m not sure which kind they were selling but the section was empty. I hope it was not the tropical variety.

At the Plant Real Florida site you can shop by hardiness zone and find shops that sell plants and / or seeds.

monarch butterfly milkweed

A New Hibiscus Plant For the Yard

Living in Florida means growing at least one hibiscus in the yard.

One plant that every Florida yard should have is the fantastic hibiscus.

A hibiscus will bloom constantly for much of the year in Florida. It loves the sun and does extremely well in the hot and humid climate.

orange hibiscus shrub
Newly Planted Hibiscus Shrub

Hibiscus plants come in a wide variety of colors and types. Some can grow in northern climates, but the ones I refer to here are tropical. They will not die over the winter. It’s not really necessary to know your types (unless you are searching for something specific, or mail ordering) because local stores will sell the types that work in your area of the country, or world.

One problem I remember having is aphids that get on the flowers and plant, but this new hibiscus contained a tag that said it was protected from aphids, white flies, and some other bugs.  So we’ll see.

They are easy to plant.  Remove any grass in the area and dig a big wide hole.  Mix together some kind of fertilizer, bone meal, and or garden soil and add that back into the hole with some of the dirt that was removed.  Push the dirt down around the edge of the root ball and then water thoroughly… that means a lot.   If the plant still looks great the next day, then you did a good job.  Water again, and continue to water well until it gets established.

My new hibiscus has a double orange bloom, which looks like a ruffle compared to the flat types of flower. It was the prettiest flower I saw among the bunches of plants at the local Home Depot.  I planted it in a spot that should get a lot of sun year round.  Once I buy some mulch, I’ll put that all around the bottom to help keep the soil moist.  Then I can water it less often.

orange flowering hibiscus
Double Orange Hibiscus

Although I have mainly been shopping for plants at Home Depot, I prefer to support a privately owned nursery.  I am not very familiar with any around here.  I’ve already been to Lindleys, and wasn’t all that impressed.  One that I plan to visit is Garden Arts and is located on Flagler Ave. Generally I only go to the very touristy Flagler Ave. to eat at Breakers Restaurant. I will brave the crowds to eat a yummy fish sandwich while looking out at the ocean.

Some friends just told me about the Garden Arts nursery and suggested I visit.  I have a free parking pass for the beachside lot (yes, they charge to park now!), so I may do just that.  Then I will write a review about the place, and visit often … if I like it.

Now that I have a hibiscus growing in my yard, it’s a reminder that I’m settling into my new lifestyle which is a throwback to a very old life.  When I see my photos of the huge piles of snow, and remember suffering without power for days during ice storms, I really don’t miss dealing with those problems.  Walking out the door, without a coat on, day or night, is quite a sweet change of pace for me.