200 Seeds Asclepias Curassavica Blood Flower This plant likes to grow in full sun and prefers a soil that is on the drier side. The birds, bees, and butterflies have a great time on this plant. It really causes quite a lot of attention. This plant is adored by the hummingbirds and they can not seem to get enough of this one. Many people grow this plant because it is also a favorite with the Tigers, Milkweeds, Monarchs, and Queens butterflies. This plant is a host plant for many butterflies in the Danaus Genus, such as chrysippus also known as the plain tiger or African monarch, plexippus which is our American Monarch, gilippus or the Queen, erippus or the southern Monarch, eresimus which is the soldier or tropical Queen, and finally cleophile or Jamaican monarch. Graduate student Dara Satterfield is making an educated guess that better availability of Asclepias curassavica in conjunction with warmer winters, may have an unhealthy impact on Monarch butterflies and their migration. The science to back up this idea will not be complete for a couple years, but just to be safe I cut mine to the ground for the Winter because if there is a problem this will solve it, and if there is not a problem then the plant will grow back next season. “This is a very sensitive subject in the Monarch world,” said Satterfield. “We just don’t have the data right now.” Another popular use for this plant is as a cut flower for its strong exotic appearance. USDA Hardiness Zones 8 to 11.