Getting it Right...Accidentally

I have been working on landscaping my yard from bare ground for 5 years. My goal has been to create an oasis for myself as well as any wildlife that may want to move in. Even those pesky rabbits that I claim to hate but will rescue from the window wells and even FEED from time to time. I can coexist as long as they don't eat certain plants. But I digress...

Birds have been my main focus and I've planted several plants to attract them such as echinacea and ornamental millet. In the course of bird planting, I also became aware of bees. It started with a rose bush that is the site of many a bee/pollen orgy. They also love African Blue basil (seems butterflies like it too!) which is a gorgeous plant with purple flowers. It also tastes great so plant one to eat and one to go to flower for the bees. It's not like I didn't want butterflies, I just hadn't gotten that far. Many of the plants that birds and bees like are also attractors for butterflies as well so my yard was a buzz with many flying creatures and I was content. 

Last year this showed up in my yard. At first I wasn't sure what it was because it was growing rightnextto a stargazer lily I had planted there. As it grew it became clear this was no lily. My mom said it was a milkweed. Common Milkweed. Now I knew from my mother's neighbor who planted this on purpose that it was the host plant for Monarch butterfly. Who doesn't love a Monarch? I decided it should stay. My mom wasn't so sure. It's invasive she said. I have a lot of invasive in my yard (VERONICA! Oh, how I wish I never met you! You are the bane of my gardening existence!) so I figured what's one more? Especially one that actually has a purpose?

I started having second thoughts late in the summer when my lily was in danger of being obliterated. Who gets priority? A plant that is basically squatting in my garden or the plant that I paid money for and planted according to a drawn out plan? The lily won and I attempted to pull out the milkweed and banish it from my garden. I am not a wildlife hater by any means (that I feed stupid bunnies for Pete's sake should be testament to that) but I wanted that stargazer! I figured a better plan would be to remove this milkweed and go in search of a better behaved milkweed that I could plant in a spot of my choosing. 

HAHAHAHAHAHA! Excuse me while I pick myself off the floor and wipe the tears from my eyes from near hysterical laughter at my own naivete.

Those of you that have dealt with Common Milkweed know that it will not be banished quite so easily. This year instead of one milkweed plant, I have 4. The lily seems to be soldiering on in spite of it which is good. Now milkweed has become a major battle cry in these parts. To the point of annoyance really. It's not that I think gardeners shouldn't plant milkweed in their gardens, I just think they need to be informed as to the growth habits of the plants they are planting. Would I suggest that gardeners plant Common Milkweed in their home gardens? No, I wouldn't. It's far too large of a plant and has very aggressive tendencies making it unsuitable (in my mind) for many urban gardens.There are other milkweed varieties (such as butterfly weed or swamp milkweed) that are better behaved. 

However, now that this milkweed was here again, I wavered. Sometimes it's better to work with a plant than fight with it all the time (except you, VERONICA! You are so outta here!). My dad assures me he can keep this thing under control with a spade and it's actually not in a bad part of my yard. It's not an entirely ugly plant.  I like purple and the flowers are rather nice. Then this guy showed up: 

Done. Milkweed stays.