What’s that lovely vanilla fragrance you’re smelling? Chances are it’s coming from the rosy-pink flowers of rose milkweed, AKA swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). Like other members of the Asclepias genus, this milkweed is often used by monarch butterflies as a host plant. Its fragrant blooms last for about a month in mid-summer, offering pollen and nectar to many insects, and these are followed by large seedpods. As one of its less-than-poetic common names suggests, this milkweed likes water, making it a good choice for rain gardens or those wetter spots in your pollinator garden. If other species of milkweed have struggled in your soggy plot, give rose milkweed a try!
