Purple Milkweed

Five years ago I purchased several seedlings of Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens) from a local native plant nursery.  There were maybe 4-5, each less than 4 inches tall.  The first year there were no flowers, and I wasn't sure they would survive, but the did.  Slowly they grew in size and the number of flowers, until last June I featured them for the first time on this blog.

Now they have taken off.  They are no longer individual plants, but are spreading out into a clump that needs to be managed.  I had to pull out several plants that had developed from roots a couple feet away from the clump because they were threatening one of the hardy hibiscus plants.

I am considering removing all of the other plants in this section of the bed, to give it over to these common, yet wonderful, flowers.  I will wait and see.  This is a host plant for butterfly caterpillars, so they could get pretty ugly looking if they are found.  Yet, I wouldn't mind having that problem if it encouraged more butterflies.