Plant Finder

Moana Nursery High Desert Plant Finder & Guide

Other Names:  Butterfly Weed

Description:

Important plant to the Monarch butterfly caterpillar, this variety features showy variegated foliage, crowned by orange-red flowers in summer; great for dry, sunny areas; a visually pleasing display for borders or containers

Ornamental Features

Monarch Promise Milkweed features showy fragrant orange flat-top cup-shaped flowers with red overtones at the ends of the stems from mid summer to early fall, which emerge from distinctive dark red flower buds. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its attractive narrow leaves remain grayish green in color with distinctive creamy white edges and tinges of rose throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Monarch Promise Milkweed is an herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Monarch Promise Milkweed is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Monarch Promise Milkweed will grow to be about 24 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. It tends to be leggy, with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and should be underplanted with lower-growing perennials. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant should only be grown in full sunlight. It is very adaptable to both dry and moist locations, and should do just fine under typical garden conditions. It is considered to be drought-tolerant, and thus makes an ideal choice for a low-water garden or xeriscape application. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided. This particular variety is an interspecific hybrid. It can be propagated by cuttings; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Monarch Promise Milkweed is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.