Making Milkweeds

I thought it'd be handy to share this article, recently published in the Wildflower, 2018, Volume 35, No. 1 issue:

Butterflyweed saga

I love my milkweeds (along with my passionflowers, mallows and everyone else). In the backyard, I had two butterflyweeds (Asclepias tuberosa) that I thought were happy and well rooted. This past spring, however, one came back up, and the other didn't. I waited, and I waited, and I WAITED. No sign of the second butterflyweed. Meanwhile, the first butterflyweed BLOOMED.

Finally, I gave up May 3 and dug down in the ground to check on the uncooperative root.  The photo above is what I brought back up. Rotted from overwatering, I thought. Dang it. I hate to lose any of my plants friends. Always pains me. So I wrote off the second butterflyweed.... 

And then....

Look what I spied May 28! My friend was ALIVE! I shared the photo above on my "Window on a Texas Wildscape" page on Facebook. I was SO ELATED! And now look at my butterfly friend below. It's happily blooming! 

Moral of this story: Never Give Up.