I betcha it's buttefly weed. It's got a real long taproot and it's actually native!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Butterfly Weed Info

I agree, it almost has to be Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed). You can find them growing in fields around here frequently. As you can see, they are easy to get rid of if you don't want them. Their tap root is very sensitive. I don't know why the woman you talked to was having so much problem. I bet she hadn't tried very hard.
They are actually very easy to grow from seed. I would plant them where you want them permanently as early as possible. I have even had some luck moving them. They are very drought tolerant, but if you move them, dig as deep as you reasonably can and keep them watered very well for a little while.
SissyZ's link looked good. I didn't take time to read it all. In case it didn't say, Asclepias tuberosa is a perennial. In deep well drained soil, it can last a long time.

Actually, I'm quite familiar with butterfly weed. I've also wanted that for some time as well. However, the one I'm talking about has a true spire, and the flower is phlox-like, like Dame's Rocket. It really does look like an orange Dame's Rocket, but shorter. The color is uniform, not variegated. And it is dead-on, perfect UT orange, that sort of lighter orange, marmalade-like color.

The closest thing I've found on the web is called Erysimum hieraciifolium, but I can't find any indication that its range includes East Tennessee. In fact, the website below calls it Siberian Wallflower. I just read that Dame's Rocket is from Eurasia, too, so I guess they could be related (though for some reason they call Dame's Rocket Hesperis matronalis.) But how did it get here?

Here is a link that might be useful: Siberian Wallflower

How about this one?

Here is a link that might be useful: TN Milkweed

Wow! That is some milkweed! But no, I am beginning to think this is definitely Siberian Wallflower. If I can verify that what I have growing in the front bed is this plant, I will see if I can propagate somehow, or at least take good pictures, so I can bring with me to the Plant Swap in May.

I'm guessing Wallflower, too. Wallflower (Chieranthus, is you want to do some research) is a crucifer/mustard family member like Dame's Rocket, with those same long pods and four-petaled flowers. It's often included in wildflower mixes, which generally include any plant that's relatively easy to grow from seed, no matter where it's from.

Marty

The plant that I suspected would be a Wallflower has started to bloom!! The flowers are UT orange, so this is the one! Strangely, there are no spires, though - the plant has been expanding larger and larger out from the center since January. Back then it was perhaps 4 inches in diameter, now it's nearly 1' in diameter. There are flower heads all over it! So I'm wondering if sometime this week it will shoot up spires like I've always seen it elsewhere. I will take photos once it is in full bloom so you can see.

I would love to see them!
I should have known it wouldn't be Butterfly Weed, they bloom in summer...don't they?

My Siberian Wallflower is in full bloom, but did not grow spires this year - perhaps it will get them next year. It looks FANTASTIC net to the blue of Forget-Me-Nots, which appear to have the same blooming schedule. I will be moving some forget-me-nots nearer to the Wallflower for next year (as I have discovered you cannot move a Wallflower) and I will be seeding Wallflower near the forget-me-nots as soon as it puts out seed. I will sacrifice the length of my blooming season to get seeds from this plant - I just hope it can self-pollinate, as I don't have a second plant!

I will take a picture tomorrow and post.

Regina,
in the store today, saw a bright orange flower on a spire. I knew it wasn't wallflower and I thought of you.
The flower I saw was called Geum, a spring bloomer...
{{gwi:1275832}}

Thanks for thinking of me! I looked this up since it's so pretty! Looks like Geum reptans otherwise known as Creeping Avens. I'm going to look for this one to add to my Orange collection! The leaves look a bit like Heuchera, don't you think?

I'm still working on getting a good picture of my wallflower - would you believe it is STILL blooming? It started in the first week of April!

-Regina

OK, I finally took pics of my "UT Wallflower"! It was very beautiful in April when it was shorter - as time has gone on the stems have gotten longer and longer, leading to it getting "gangly", but that plant is STILL blooming. Amazing. I imagine if I'd cut the stems back it would have stayed nicer longer, but I really want seed this year so I'm leaving it alone. If you're interested in seed from this plant let me know.

It appears to have LOVED getting planted in great soil. Its siblings were raised in unimproved clay, and they were sad, scrawny things in comparison, long since finished blooming.

I did my best to adjust the color on these pics to be more accurate, but it still is TOO orange. It's much paler, true UT orange.

Erysimum in April:
{{gwi:1275834}}
{{gwi:1275835}}
{{gwi:1275836}}

Eryisimum in May:
{{gwi:1275838}}

This is just beautiful . I'd trade you in a heart beat for some of this.

Cheryl

I forgot to mention... it smells heavenly. Apparently when young it is fragrant but by the time I'd ever seen it the plant was past its prime so did not smell.

Cheryl didn't I send you a pic of that stuff? I think that's what we have too.

I agree..this is Not butterfly weed..it is orange version of dames rocket..exact same flower only orange.

vogeld8 wrote, "..it is orange version of dames rocket..exact same flower only orange."

The problem with that is that dame's rocket doesn't come in orange!

Wallflower

Google Wallflower. They're brilliant orange (like Tithtonia- Mexican Sunflower brilliant orange). You can buy seeds. They're cheap.