Growing Butterfly Weed (Asclepias): A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Butterfly weed is a native perennial wildflower grown as much for feeding monarch butterfly caterpillars, one of the milkweeds they depend on, as for its own clusters of bright orange flowers.
Pot up promptly
This plant develops a taproot immediately upon germination, so seedlings need moving into larger containers 3 to 5 weeks after sowing rather than being left to sit and become root-bound. Transplanting is the recommended method, starting seed 7 to 9 weeks before your last frost at a quarter inch deep, though direct-seeding in fall or spring also works. Germination takes 14 to 21 days at 65-70°F. Space plants 12 to 24 inches apart.
A slow first year, like most perennials from seed
Like columbine and other perennials started from seed, butterfly weed takes its time getting established, putting energy into roots before it puts on much of a show above ground. It’s hardy in zones 3-9 and long-lived once settled in, so the slow start is worth the patience.
Harvest for a vase, if you want to
Cut when about half to two-thirds of the flowers on a cluster have opened. Left uncut, the plant is more valuable in the garden anyway, since caterpillars need the living leaves.
Butterfly weed has no recorded companions or antagonists in our data. See the full companion guide for butterfly weed for how it’s tracked. As a pollinator-support perennial, it’s a good fixed anchor near the edge of a Garden Designer bed rather than something to rotate through.
Source: Butterfly Weed (Asclepias): Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Butterfly Weed (Asclepias) · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 3-9. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Method: Start indoors: Start indoors from seed, then transplant outside. Butterfly Weed (Asclepias) needs a head start most zones can't give it by direct-sowing alone.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Butterfly Weed (Asclepias) plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1.5-3 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- 'Pleurisy Root' butterfly weed: Johnny's Selected Seeds sells Asclepias tuberosa under this traditional name (from its historical use treating lung ailments), describing it as showy orange flowers that attract butterflies and bees, their main offering of this native species. (source)
Cited from the source shown next to each variety. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.
Where to buy butterfly weed seeds
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing butterfly weed (asclepias)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Butterfly Weed (Asclepias): A native perennial wildflower grown to feed monarch butterfly caterpillars as much as for its own clusters of orange flowers.
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