CROWN FLOWER/GIANT MILKWEED

Crown Flower/Ginat Milkweed: Calotropis gigantea THE STORY I often speak about the flowers jumping out in front of me. Well, this one was hanging over the walkway, at eye level, so I literally came eye to eye with it. The walkway wound its way through a yard planted with ecosystem friendly plants: butterfly gardens, trees and shrubs to attract migratory birds and indigenous plants. These flowers were so striking and I had never seen them before. They were on a giant milkweed, a species of milkweed that has unusually thick and meaty leaves that take a while for a monarch caterpillar to eat through, kind of like the rib-eye steak version of milkweed. Anyone who has planted milkweed for Monarch caterpillars knows what voracious eaters they are and how quickly they can strip a plant. The caterpillars do not eat the flowers so I picked a cluster of blossoms, in various stages of opening, with permission from the plant of course. In fact, the plant would not let me leave without a few of her