English
Milkweed is essential to your garden for helping increase monarch populations, since the butterfly can’t complete its life cycle without it. Add nectar-producing plants and you’ll have a true monarch oasis.
Our horticulturists’ suggestions:
1 | • | Common milkweed | Asclepias syriaca | Native perennial / Monarch host plant |
If you garden in pots, choose tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) instead. Treat this species the way you would an annual, or grow it as an indoor winter plant, after cutting it back.
2 | • | Spotted Joe Pye weed | Eutrochium maculatum | Native perennial |
3 | • | Canada goldenrod | Solidago canadensis | Native perennial |
4 | • | Meadow blazing-star | Liatris ligulistylis | Perennial, native in Saskatchewan |
5 | • | Butterfly-bush | Buddleja sp. | Tender perennial |
Fragile.
Choose a cultivar resistant to cold; use as an annual, or protect the plant in winter.
6 | • | Red sunflower | Tithonia rotundifolia | Annual |
7 | • | Garden heliotrope | Heliotropium arborescens | Tender perennial |
8 | • | Common yarrow | Achillea borealis | Native perennial |
Commonly sold under the name Achillea millefolium
6 | • | Lantana | Lantana camara | Tender perennial |
10 | • | New England aster | Symphyotrichum novae-angliae | Native perennial |
Downloadable documents

The TOP 10 plants for monarchs[ - 291.16 KB - 2 pages]