Eden Keeper
And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. Genesis 2:15
Asclepias L., Milkweed
Milkweed, Asclepias L., is the type genus for the milkweed family. Milkweeds are excellent plants for attracting butterflies, considering that they are the host plant for monarch butterfly and others. When in bloom the flowers are unique enough to easily be recognized as both belonging to the milkweed family even those on the milkvine
, Matelea Aubl.. William Bartram first collected purple[/pinewoods] milkweed, A. humistrata Walter, but he was not credited with the discovery that he named A. carnosa. Due to the orange flower color of butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa L., like this one seen at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico the summer of 2008, it is probably the most easily recognizable species.I have tried with very limited success to salvage milkweed plants and/or seed that were being sprayed with herbicide along with other wild flowers prior to being plowed under so a food-plot could be planted. The hunting was eve less successful if you want to call it karma. The deer ate everything planted in the food-plot before hunting season, and because there was no cover available from the wildflower stems no deer were observed to enter the food plot throughout the hunting season. In fact no legal deer has ever been seen out in that food plot for more than a few second, when no shot was possible, in the last 30 years especially when the field had been cleared. I tried to tell them so, but they had to have the field clear enough for a 100 plus yard shot that has never happened and probably never will.
