Butterfly Weed

Highlights

Butterfly weed is a must for any sunny native garden. It’s a host plant for monarch butterflies: one of the 100+ native milkweed species monarchs depend on to survive. The color is neon orange, Cheeto-level bright, a rare find among native flowers and a hummingbird favorite. Seeds planted in spring can flower that same summer, which makes it one of the most beginner-friendly native plants around. At just 1 to 1.5 feet tall, it’s also one of the most compact milkweeds, sitting comfortably in a border without taking over. Scroll on.

Is butterfly weed right for my yard?

Plant it if…

• You have full sun or close to it (6+ hours is ideal).
• Your soil drains well, or even tends dry. A hot, rocky slope is a dream scenario.
• You want to attract monarchs, native bees, and hummingbirds.
• You’re working with a tricky dry spot or a stretch of ground other plants won’t cooperate in.
• You’re gardening with kids. Seeds planted in spring can bloom that same summer. Instant gratification.

Skip it if…

• Your yard stays wet or your soil holds water after rain. Poor drainage is butterfly weed’s one real weakness, and it will rot in heavy clay that doesn’t drain.
• You want something that looks great quickly. The deep taproot takes a full season to settle in, and year one can look underwhelming. Year two is a different story.
• You’re outside its native range and looking for a milkweed for monarchs. Check the range map (below) before planting.

Why butterfly weed matters

Monarch caterpillars only eat one thing: milkweed.

That’s not an exaggeration. Monarch caterpillars cannot survive on any other plant. When a plant is the specific food source and nursery for an insect, it’s called a host plant, and butterfly weed is one of the most important host plants in North America. Monarch females seek milkweed leaves as spots to lay their eggs, and when the caterpillars hatch, the plant is their entire world.

Butterfly weed is one of the 100+ native milkweed species in the Asclepias genus, all native to North or South America. It’s not the only milkweed monarchs use, but it’s one of the most widely available and one of the easiest to grow in a home garden. Its bright orange flowers also draw hummingbirds and a wide range of native bees and butterfly species, making it one of the highest-value plants you can add to a sunny garden.

Now you may be wondering: why do monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed?

Milkweed gives monarchs superpowers

Almost all milkweeds are known for their milky-white sap, which is toxic to all creatures except the monarch. Monarch caterpillars have evolved to eat milkweed and safely hold the toxicity within their bodies. When a predator eats a monarch caterpillar or butterfly they get sick (and sometimes die.)

Birds and other wildlife have evolved to see a monarch and understand this is not something to eat. (It helps that monarch caterpillars and butterflies have evolved to look so distinct.) Monarch caterpillars go ahead and chomp away, knowing milkweed protects them.

Strangely, almost all milkweed has milky white sap except butterfly weed. The sap within butterfly weed still holds some of that toxicity, but the color is not white.

Looking to learn more? Head over to our overview on the powers of host plants, or check out our list of native host plants for butterflies.

Where butterfly weed shines in your yard

• Pollinator garden: One of the most productive pollinator plants you can grow in full sun. Monarchs, native bees, hummingbirds, and dozens of butterfly species all work these flowers.
• Front yard border: At 1 to 1.5 feet tall, butterfly weed sits comfortably at the front of a border without blocking anything behind it.
• Dry slopes and hellstrips: Thrives in spots that stump other plants. Poor drainage is its weakness, but dry and difficult is exactly its wheelhouse.
• Children’s gardens: Direct-sow seeds in spring and get blooms that same summer. One of the best instant-feedback plants for gardening with kids.
• Mass plantings: Plant five or more together. The more plants in one area, the easier they are for monarch moms to find.

How to grow butterfly weed

Where to plant

Full sun, well-drained soil. Butterfly weed thrives in spots other plants won’t touch: dry, rocky, slightly lean ground on a slope. Poor drainage is the one condition it genuinely cannot handle. Pick the sunniest, driest spot you’ve got.

When to plant

Spring is best, either by seed or transplant. If you’re direct-seeding with seeds you collected in the wild, butterfly weed seeds need cold stratification: plant them in fall and let winter do the work, or put seeds in a damp paper towel in a zip-lock bag in the refrigerator for 30 days before spring planting. The cold period helps break dormancy.

If you’re planting seeds you purchased, most of the time they have been cold-stratified, and you’re good to plant directly in your yard in the spring.

Spacing

12 to 18 inches apart. About one forearm length between plants. Plant five or more together when you can. Monarchs find milkweed visually, and a cluster is easier to locate than a single plant.

No pesticides or herbicides

Avoid using pesticides or herbicides near milkweed plants, as they can harm the monarch butterflies and caterpillars that rely on the plant.

How to grow butterfly weed from seed

One amazing thing about butterfly weed is that seeds planted in the spring can sometimes flower later that summer. This is somewhat rare for native perennial flowers planted from seed (most take the first summer to put down roots and flower the second year).

Secret gardening success tip: Find seeds from as close to you as possible

A big tip for picking seeds is to try to buy or obtain seeds from places within 500 miles of where you live—the closer, the better. This ensures that the seeds you’re buying suit your area (butterfly weed seeds from Maine are not the best seeds for a garden in California). Here are some online seed sellers (alongside their locations) that sell butterfly weed seeds:

• Johnny’s Seeds (Maine)
• Vermont Wildflower Farm (Vermont)
• Eden Brothers (North Carolina)
• Roundstone Native Seed (Kentucky)
• Ohio Prairie Nursery (Ohio)
• Prairie Nursery has two kinds: one for clay soil and one for non-clay soil (Wisconsin)
• Native American Seeds (Texas)

True story: 4-year-olds can plant butterfly weed from seed

As a testament to how easy native plants are to grow, I gave my four-year-old nephew a packet of butterfly weed seeds in April (I live in the Philadelphia area.) I showed him how to poke his finger into the dirt alongside our driveway and drop a seed in. Then I stood back and let him go to town. I figured it was a worthy $3 experiment.

Two months later: butterfly weed was blooming alongside the driveway. It’s still blooming three years later.

If a four-year-old can easily plant butterfly weed from seed, you can too.

What are good pairings for butterfly weed?

There are lots of other native plants that are great to pair with butterfly weed—including other milkweed species! Here are some great native flowers to plant alongside butterfly weed:

Where can I buy butterfly weed?

Most big-box garden centers don’t carry true natives, but butterfly weed is easier to find than you might think. Your best bets are a native plant nursery near you, a native plant society sale, or a trusted online grower that ships to your region.

That concludes our love letter to butterfly weed. This native flower is part of the milkweed family (Asclepias). Milkweeds like butterfly weed are crucial for helping monarch populations survive because they are host plants for monarchs. Butterfly weed is easy to plant from seed, and seeds planted in the spring will oftentimes return flowers later in the summer. Their Cheeto-level of orange brightness is a favorite of hummingbirds, too. Plant 5+ and get your zoom lens ready for the wildlife pictures.

Looking to meet other native milkweeds? Head to our Beginner’s Guide to Native Milkweed and meet a few more. Or, build a butterfly oasis and read our Best Native Plants for Butterflies. Happy planting!

Explore host plants

• Blue Vervain
• Joe Pye Weed
• Coral Honeysuckle
• Black-Eyed Susans
• Rocky Mountain Bee Plant
• Sundial Lupine
• Trumpet Vine
• Coneflowers
• Lupines

Written by

Emily Lessard

Founder & Editor, The Plant Native

Emily Lessard is the founder and editor of The Plant Native, the site that helps homeowners across North America get started with native plants. She holds a Sustainable Landscapes certificate through the Pennsylvania Landscape & Nursery Association, is finishing a Native Perennial Garden Design Certificate at Temple University, and is the author of Plant Native: A Practical Guide to Over 100 Native Plants of North America (Quarto, March 2027). She gardens outside Philadelphia in the 8.3 Southeastern Plains ecoregion.

Meet Emily

Updated July 4, 2026Find more: Orange · Flower · Hummingbird Favorite · Summer · Full Sun · Part Sun · Dry · Drought-Tolerant · Host Plant

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