butterfly weed moving from wild

I'd saw a cluster of these years ago by an old railroad track. When I saw them in our local news paper of a plant in bloom at a sanctuary or 300 acres 2 ladies left for birds & nature. I though of them again after over 20 years & my kids grown and I'm now in town not on the farm.I went back to see if anything was still there with mowing and weed killers. I'd also spyed 8 weeds about 13 years ago on a county road ditch coming back into town. Of course I had to check those too. The cluster was now 3 plants, the others was now 4 plants.I dug them as deep as I could go with my spade but I'm sure I didn't get all of the 4. The three I took a tile spade which went deeper an I think it had like a bulb. I've talked to 1 of the men who help at the nature center when they have tours, but he thinks theirs was started with seeds. The botany teacher & a gentelman who owned a nursery in a town close by is also involved in this, putting it back to wild flowers & prairie grass (as Ill. had been) could tell me more maybe. They are still alive but don't look great and I moved them here with my perennials over a month ago. Should I shelter them this winter, here in mid-Ill? I'm hoping they will live but maybe I should have left them in the wild. Was there a bulb?


Doug says that digging plants from the wild is *never* a good idea now. From a conservation ethic, you're taking away from the natural world and the need of other species to eat and live on those plants.

This isn't a rare plant in the nursery world. It is easily available in many garden centers and native plant nurseries.

It is also easily started from seed - start the plant in a container big enough to grow it in for several months, it doesn't like being transplanted as a small plant.

So. Bottom line... you screwed up by digging this plant in the wild. They will look ugly for the rest of the year - but it's a tough plant. A little mulch for the winter will help protect it but do not cover the crown with mulch or you'll rot it. This is a plant for well drained soils and no supplementary watering.

People who read this note - do NOT dig plants in the wild. Even those of us who do understand how to dig, propagate and rescue plants about to be plowed under can have a hard time moving a well-established native plant.

The fact that this person didn't sign their name or give their town for followup pretty much sums up the fact that they know they made a poor decision and don't want it being made public.

If you want a special native plant, you can now get darn near anything you want online - you don't have to dig 'em.