Joe Pye Weed

 Last summer I got pictures of a Cloudless Sulphur (pictured), an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, a Monarch, and a Silver-spotted Skipper in approximately 15 minutes. And they were all attracted to the location by Joe Pye Weed wildflowers. I've seen them mistaken for a milkweed, though getting up to 7 feet tall they'd tower over our local milkweeds. (And if you break a piece of a leaf, you won't see that milky-looking latex oozing out.)

These wildflowers are pretty popular with pollinators, no doubt for similar reasons as milkweed and goldenrod are popular: there are lots of flowers on a single plant. That means a lot of nectar without having to travel much.

These wildflowers are sometimes fairly colorful, and probably would make a reasonable garden flower while in bloom. If I had a yard, I'd try and incorporate them into the yard somewhere.

August 18, 2020 at Duke Farms

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