orange/red and yellow bi-color, a red and yellow bi-color and a gold. While TV commercials sell a butterfly in a box, you and your


whole family will experience the whole lifecycle of the butterfly if you incorporate some of these flowers into your landscape. The garden itself will also become a blaze of these fiery colors, allow- ing you to create sizzling partnerships. Te scarlet milkweed, known botanically as Asclepias curas-


savica, will reach 24 to 36 inches in height and spread to 24 inches. Grow it in full sun with fertile, well-drained soil and you will find it to be virtually maintenance free. In zone 8 and higher, you will normally find it to be perennial, while in colder zones you will find it easy to capture seeds to start your own trans- plants. Once you have yours planted, then the fun begins. You’ll first


find them simply irresistible to not only the monarch, but a treasure trove of butterflies, including one of my Georgia favor- ites, the great purple hairstreak. They will arrive to feast on the nectar-rich flowers. You’ll also notice this is at the top of the food list for hummingbirds as well. Unbeknown to you, unless you are searching, eggs will be laid


and will soon hatch into caterpillars that are as exotic as the but- terflies. Te caterpillars will soon begin munching with a vora- cious appetite. I have had mine stripped to the point of almost looking like a pencil cactus. This fierce eating lasts for around


Chrysalis may be found hanging on the underside of a leaf, a branch or from wooden fences.


68


Columbus and the Valley


April 2013


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