One of the very best perennials to have in your garden is milkweed. I know that when most people hear the name, they cringe, grimace or turn up their nose, saying, "But isn't that a weed?" No, not really. And if it helps, we can call it wilkmeed. A magnet for insects, particularly butterflies and nonstinging bees, it is also a host plant for the monarch butterfly — a summer standby whose numbers are quickly dwindling as more farms and new housing developments are built, and more chemicals are being sprayed. Not only is milkweed a neat landscape plant from a design perspective, but it's also a hub for wildlife. A win-win! Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens Botanical name: Asclepias spp
Common names: Swamp milkweed, showy milkweed, Sullivant's milkweed
USDA zones: 3 to 9, depending on species (find your zone)
Light requirement: Full sun to some shade
Mature size: 2 feet wide and 3 to 4 feet tall
Benefits and tolerances: Spicy vanilla scent; attracts many butterflies; all varieties are somewhat adaptable to soil moisture
Seasonal interest: Plenty of midsummer blooms followed by autumn puffs of seeds
When to plant: Spring to midfall

Cultivars of swamp milkweed include this white-blooming 'Ice Ballet'. The scent is irresistible to monarch butterflies and many other winged insects, like beetles, moths and flies. Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens Milkweed seed pods are a sight to behold in autumn when the wind gets a hold of them. The pods dry, then crack, and dozens of seeds lift into the air like cotton. In fact, during World War II, milkweed fluff was used to fill pillows for GIs. And the milky sap can be applied to remove warts. Is there anything milkweed can't do? Try this plant in your garden and you won't regret it. Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata, zones 3 to 6). Here's a closeup of swamp milkweed in bloom, with a bumblebee coming in for nectar. The flowers can be pollinated only if an insect slips a leg deep down into a specific spot of the bloom, which isn't often. (You can use that bit of knowledge on your next date night when the conversation lags.)

Red swamp milkweed looks fantastic massed and grows in well-behaved clumps with mauve blooms smelling like spicy vanilla. Contrary to its damp-sounding name, swamp milkweed can perform well in medium soil, preferring clay from anything wet to just slightly dry. It takes full sun or a bit of shade, averaging 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide. Dig Your Garden Landscape Design Common milkweed (Asclepias speciosa, zones 3 to 9). This is a moderate spreader in loamy soils (slower in clay) with different-colored flowers. The leaves are also longer and wider than swamp milkweed's. This species likes dry to medium clay soil — perfect for the plains — and full to partial shade. It reaches 3 feet tall. Missouri Botanical Garden Sullivant's milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii, zones 3 to 7). It's the more behaved cousin of speciosa. It forms slow-growing clumps in medium to moist soil (clay or loam), and has foliage and blooms similar to speciosa, with a height of 3 to 4 feet after a few years. Missouri Botanical Garden Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa, zones 4 to 7). Here is another milkweed species, shorter than the others (2 feet by 2 feet). For me and area experts, it’s not a favorable plant for monarchs or other nectaring insects — it does tolerate dry and other problem soils, however. Benjamin Vogt / Monarch Gardens Monarch butterflies lay eggs only on milkweed, and at my house their favorite is swamp milkweed. Here are two full-grown caterpillars (about 2 inches long) devouring a leaf.

Tip: If you want to get your kids in the garden, planting butterfly host plants like milkweed is a good idea. You can watch the caterpillars double in size every few days (they're fully grown after two weeks), let them crawl up hands and arms, and learn to be a kid again yourself. When the caterpillars grow up, they venture off 20 feet or so, finding a quiet place to become jade-colored chrysalises. naturalmidwestgarden.com How to use it. Milkweed can be massed in groups of three to five or planted individually among other perennials. Its small footprint means it can go just about anywhere.

Planting notes. Most milkweeds are somewhat adaptable to soil (swamp milkweed can grow in medium soils, not just wet, and Sullivant's can take it a little moist or a little dry, even though it prefers medium moisture). Any milkweed can be planted from early spring through October (mulch well in fall to prevent winter frost heave).

More plants to draw butterflies to the garden