I took this picture a couple months ago and just found it again.
You may not be able to eat milkweed (at least, not without some serious and probably-not-worth-it preparation), but they sure attract some nice butterflies. It’s a beneficial weed, to be sure, and it’s pretty in bloom. I pulled this plant from a vacant lot and transplanted it into my wife’s rose garden (which is only that in name only at this point… I’ve crammed so many other plants in there). It fits in perfectly in any food forest too.
Maybe more will pop up around the yard now that the seeds have blown about.
You can have greener thumbs by this weekend!
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Just had to add that the Foragers Harvest book describes milkweed as very edible with minimal preparation, which I have verified- not poisonous at all. The shoots taste similar to asparagus in the spring, but better in my opinion, and the plant leaves are still edible with a little longer cooking time for quite a while after that. I now spread the seeds over my garden during the fall and pull them up in the spring. Of course I always leave quite a few to grow for seed and for the butterflies.
Thank you for the heads up – I've never tried it because of varying reports. Very cool.
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