Asclepias curassavica, the Mexican Butterfly Bush, Scarlet Milkweed or Blood Flower, is a small shrubby semi-deciduous perennial with attractive long lanceolate foliage and showy exotic flowers that are orange-red and yellow. It is very easy to grow and very fast-growing and is predominantly grown for its ability to attract butterflies which feed on its pollen rich-flowers. The foliage is also a food for many butterfly larvae.

It flowers freely in mid-summer and the flowers are followed by long narrow seed-pods that when they split open, reveal seeds with long silky threads.

A tender plant in the UK and Northern Europe, Asclepias curassavica should be pruned in the autumn and brought in to a frost-free environment during the winter. It can also be grown as an annual with new seeds being sown each year.

These are one year old plants: tough woody things, they have survived the winter, been give a 'chop' and are now sprouting vigourously from the base. Bargain!