We have fields full of the regular milkweed, but once in a while a new milkweed shows up. This one popped up just off the road at the entrance to one of our pastures.It's pink. Really pink.
K2 saw it and came straight to me, took me by the arm and said, 'You have to come see this flower. What is it?'
She was excited because it was pink. And not just any pink. A pink even I could love.
This is Asclepias purpurescens.And it is gorgeous, isn't it.
It's the first milkweed of the year to bloom. Later on, we'll have Asclepias tuberosa [the orange ones] and Asclepias incarnata [the tall beige ones].
We have a few other ones, too, but I don't know anything about them. When I did a search on the USDA database, I found this page.
Who knew there were that many milkweeds? Clearly, I need to study up!