I was out planting my Ranuculus in the ground when I noticed that my butterflyweed has show no sign of life.

I planted this in the mailbox garden last year so I began to wonder if this plant was even a perennial. With wispy seeds like this:

(they were a lot fluffier prior to freezing) I wouldn't be surprised if  the butterflyweed was an annual that self seeded.

So I turned to my medicinal plants and herbs book for an answer. According to this book they are a perennial along most of the east coast, Texas and Kansas.  And I should expect to see orange blooms from May to September. If it really does start blooming in May I thought there might be leaves by now, but we'll see. At least I have some seeds I can start if it decides not to come back.