Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Butterfly Weed Honey Bees


This is the yellow form of Asclepias tuberosa, aka Butterfly Weed. It's taken a few days but the communicative effect of bees flying to love this plant has taken off. Two days ago there was just one bee on it at almost all hours of day light. The next day had 2, then later that night had 3. And now it's full out buzzing with bees, upwards a dozen or so from dawn to dusk. And this will keep up for the week or two that this plant is at full bloom.

Milkweeds double as host plants for Monarch butterflies throughout their range. There are also about 11 other Lepidoptera that use it as a host plant.