Native milkweeds aren’t pretty plants — there’s a reason why “weed” is part of their name! They’re even less pretty after these caterpillars have had their way, stripping the leaves. However, that’s all outweighed by the beauty of the butterflies that are going to appear after these hungry caterpillars chew through my milkweed patch.
I stopped counting after I saw FOURTEEN caterpillars on Saturday.
If you think you can bypass the ugly native milkweeds by planting prettier tropical milkweed in your garden, don’t do it! Tropical milkweed are actually harmful to our local butterflies! From Birds & Blooms:
Tropical milkweed types host a parasite that infects and harms monarchs.
Cutting tropical milkweed back every year solves that problem, but milkweed seeds blow around and you can’t guarantee that the yards where they land will have skilled gardeners with time available to fuss over their milkweed (if they even know what it is!) and do what’s necessary to keep our butterflies safe. Just say NO to tropical milkweed and stick with native milkweed plants.
Here’s what one of my milkweed plants looked like after the caterpillar buffet:
