Hope Springs Eternal... on the Frigid East Coast this Weekend
Imagine our delight when Metropolitan Garden Design friend and monarch butterfly enthusiast sent us this photo. Butterfly Weed babies (Asclepias tuberosa) coming to life in his New York City apartment. Now that’s the tonic we need to take the chill off this arctic weekend!
Butterfly Weed is a stunning prairie native loved by pollinators, including the magnificent monarch butterfly. Despite its name, Butterfly Weed is anything but weedy. Flat clusters of fire-orange flowers appear above narrow alternate leaves summer through fall. It’s a tough, drought resistant plant that can take the intense summer heat of a New York City rooftop. It also makes a great cut flower!
As you can see, these seedlings are growing in a highly controlled environment. Rather than working with nature, as is done with the winter sowing method, our friend has chosen to step into the role of Mother Nature. First simulating a winter and then early summer, all in the confines of his apartment. A refrigerator provided a faux winter where the seeds spent 30 days. During that time their shells softened and their embryos came to life ready to seek light and nutrients. Then, under strong grow lights, the seeds experienced the light and warmth of an early summer. Properly tricked, these babies germinated in only 4 days.
We love that our friend has planted so many Butterfly Weed seeds. Now he can be selective about which ones he keeps, eliminating the weaklings as they grow until he has only one per cell. And, with so many seedlings he will be able to plant them in groups of 3, 5 or even 7. Planting in groups is great for pollinators. Bees, for example tend to visit only one type of flower per foraging trip so planting a lot of one plant is helpful. If bees, butterflies and other pollinators burn the calories to get to your garden, make it worth their while!
For those of us who want more instant gratification there are several excellent source of nursery-propagated Butterfly Weed and other native plants. Let us know if we can pick up some native plants for your garden.
Stay hopeful east coast, spring is on its way!