Common Milkweed

Came up on its own against the back fence, which is the best kind of plant. Broad opposite leaves, a thick stem, and by early July a cluster of dusty pink flowers that smelled like something between honey and vanilla.

How I identified it

• Milky white sap when a leaf is pulled — that’s the giveaway for Asclepias.
• Leaves opposite, oval, with a pale midrib.
• Flowers in a drooping ball-shaped umbel, five reflexed petals each.

Notes

Monarch caterpillars need it, so this one stays. It spreads by rhizome, so I expect more of it next year along the same fence line — I’ll pull anything that wanders into the beds and leave the rest alone.