Milkweed is a perennial plant that, while not especially pretty, does attract most all butterflies.

Usually sporting small, highly fragrant purple flowers, the milkweed is worth planting in your butterfly garden.

Some of the butterflies attracted to the milkweed nectar are Monarchs, Mourning Cloak, Tiger Swallowtail, and Viceroy.

Violets attract the Great Spangled Fritillary to lay eggs and this type of butterfly later feeds on milkweed, Consider growing violets early in the season.

The Monarch lays eggs as well as feeds off the nectar of milkweed.

They put out tubes holding cuttings of milkweed stems with two leaves, whole potted milkweed plants, and microscope slides coated with glycerin.

milkweed leaves heavily dusted with Bt pollen.

Two bread bags full of milkweed down or other silky plant fibers make warm mittens (tie them at the wrists ).