Plant Encyclopedia

Other Names:  Butterfly Weed

Description:

Aromatic vanilla-scented flowers; foliage and flowers attract the monarch butterfly and its larvae; silky seed pods can be used in dried flower arrangements; native to wet meadows and swamps but adapts to average garden conditions

Ornamental Features

Cinderella Milkweed features showy lightly-scented shell pink flat-top recurved flowers with white eyes at the ends of the stems from mid summer to early fall, which emerge from distinctive rose flower buds. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its glossy narrow leaves remain forest green in color with distinctive light green veins throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Cinderella Milkweed is an herbaceous perennial with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It is a good choice for attracting butterflies to your yard, but is not particularly attractive to deer who tend to leave it alone in favor of tastier treats. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Cinderella Milkweed is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• General Garden Use
• Naturalizing And Woodland Gardens
• Bog Gardens

Planting & Growing

Cinderella Milkweed will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity extending to 4 feet tall with the flowers, with a spread of 3 feet. It tends to be leggy, with a typical clearance of 1 foot from the ground, and should be underplanted with lower-growing perennials. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It is quite adaptable, prefering to grow in average to wet conditions, and will even tolerate some standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is quite intolerant of urban pollution, therefore inner city or urban streetside plantings are best avoided. This is a selection of a native North American species. It can be propagated by division; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.