Photos: © Brian Maynard

The October Mystery Plant is a striking orange-flowered native perennial. It is a popular garden ornamental and is easy to grow in sunny, well-drained locations. The flowers attract loads of wasps and bees. Broken stems and leaves exude a milky sap and the fruit is a dehiscent pod of silky seeds that blow away in the breeze.

It is…

Botanical Name: Asclepias tuberosa
Common Name: butterfly milkweed
Family: Asclepiadaceae
Habitat: dry soils, uplands

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