I neglected to mention that milkweeds are no longer in their own family Asclepiadaceae, but have now been included in the dogbane family Apocynaceae. I’m not quite sure when that happened. Apparently I was snoozing, but now you and I know. Milkweeds are a blast and there are a lot of them out there. There are close to thirty species in Arizona alone. One of my favorite species is Asclepias subulata. I can’t grow it in the uplands…well, I can grow it but it will freeze and die…anyway, it is an excellent choice for milkweed junkies in the low desert. It attracts the usual butterfly suspects, other insects AND ALSO tarantula hawks visit its flowers regularly. How cool is that? Very.
The photos are mine and of the flowers of Asclepias asperula and A. tuberosa. Also below is a link to another Growing Native about milkweeds. It’s an old show…you know, back when there were in the Asclepiadaceae. Dang!
https://kxci.org/podcast/milkweeds/
Petey jabbers about monkey flowers and sandhill cranes and declares that spring has sprung in the desert grassland.
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