Creating buzz

Bees are crazy about it this time of year. So are butterflies. Of course you know we must be talking about Asclepias. It’s OK if you know it as milkweed. There are dozens of kinds, and the bees and butterflies and hummingbirds don’t care what you call it, as long as you have some.

Butterfly weed, busy bee at Brandywine River Museum of Art, June 30, 2015.

Bees and butterflies, especially Monarchs, have been in the news a lot lately. They’re struggling, and providing them the native plants and wildflowers they need is an easy, and beautiful, thing to do.

In these parts, there’s common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca. Swamp milkweed, Asclepias incarnata. And butterfly weed, or butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa. There’s some in bloom right now near the entrance of the Brandywine River Museum of Art. Its brilliant orange is hard to miss. Museum visitors have been asking about it. And the bees have been savoring it.

It’s easy to grow and guaranteed to give your garden some pizzazz. Yes, and some buzz.

Brandywine Bloom Cam: 06/30/15

Rhododendron maximum generates buzz of its own near the Museum’s entrance.

–John O. Buckley

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