Showy Milkweed, loved by Monarch butterflies

You don't usually see Milkweed in Calgary. I've only ever seen it in two places, in someone's garden and once growing wild. I was thrilled to see Monarch caterpillars on these beautiful garden flowers on July 15th. Usually, it is very rare to see a Monarch butterfly in my city, but for some reason, we have been seeing a few of these spectacular butterflies further north in Alberta this summer.

"Pollination in this genus is accomplished in an unusual manner, as the pollen is grouped into complex structures called pollinia (or "pollen sacs"), rather than being individual grains, as is typical for plant pollen. The flower petals are smooth and rigid, and the feet of visiting insects (predominantly large wasps, such as spider wasps, which visit the plants for nectar) slip into notches in the flowers, where the sticky bases of the pollinia attach to the feet, pulling the pollen sacs free when the pollinator flies off. Bees, including honey bees only gather nectar from milkweed flowers, and are generally not effective pollinators despite the frequency of visitation.

Species in the Asclepias genus grow their seeds in pods. These seed pods contain soft filaments known as either silk or floss. The filaments are attached to individual seeds. When the seed pod ripens, the seeds are blown by the wind, each carried by several filaments." From Wikipedia.