Who grows milkweeds?

I just looked at the photo of the Silky Gold & it looks nice too... however I think I like the Tropical better only because it has the orange in it & I like the matched colors! hahahahahaha.... however I am looking forward to the Swamp milkweed's color of Pink!!

It's an annual for me... possibly you too, but it's a "curassavica"

it sounds like milkweed is one of those annual reseeders! hahaha

I still have tons of seeds if anyone is interested :)

I think I'll try some more Milkweeds this year. I've got dry alkaline clay, so that limits my selection, and I've had mixed results getting them established. The one growing in the richer moister soil of the vegetable garden is doing well, of course, haha. So far, I don't get the caterpillar stage of Monarchs here, I get the adults migrating back in the fall. But there was a post on the bird-watching forum that said Hummingbirds use the seed silk for nesting material, so Milkweed is worth another try.

jlp222
what kind of seeds do you have? the curassavica? I have the butterfly weed seeds germinating now. I can get them to germinate but then I lose them when I transplant them. I read recently that you should leave them in the pot that they germinate in for a year, so I am going to try that this year.

I am pretty sure that is what I have... I'll look tomorrow.

pollengarden, the Tropical Milkweed would probably grow very well in your area/soil as it doesn't need a lot of moisture ie; bog conditions etc. ..hence, being tropical. I wish I had some extra seeds but mine went moldy as I forgot to move them to a paper bag after picking them so I am relying on what is there already for my plants this year. Sorry. Perhaps someone else can help.

I'm still here, thanks goodness. I lost track of my Southern Star. I think I've collected some seedpods. But, I'll have to look for them. Last year wasn't a good year for me. Hope this year will be a better year.

I too love, love the Blue flowers of Southern Star.

A. tuberosa is the "native" one most places sell to grow here, and it is the one I've had the most trouble with. A. incarnata is native to moister places, but so far seems like it may be easier to grow. The one native to my neighborhood (forgot name) is a skinny little thing with inconspicuous flowers. It attracts aphids, then ladybugs - but I don't think a self-respecting butterfly would be seen near it. There is one I've seen growing up on dry mountain slopes - but beetles always seem to beat me to the seed pods.

For A. tuberosa I've had the most success in hot dry areas of the garden that are only moderately fertile.
It grows well with lavender since it likes similar conditions. If you don't have a strictly native garden the lavender and butterfly weed form a nice purple and orange combination and will bloom together in my area if the lavender is harvested once. It is the second bloom of lavender that overlaps.
Since it is late to break dormancy I like to plant it with moss phlox (Phlox subulata) a ground cover plant which blooms earlier and can be sheared back, before the butterfly weed appears, to form low evergreen mats.
The moss phlox easily allows other plants to grow through it without harm to either.
I collected the seed this year from the butterfly weed and tried 2 methods of seeding.
In the fall, I planted the collected seed, after it had turned brown, where I wanted it next year by just scratching it in the earth.
I also saved some seed and poked it into the snow after the first snow.
We'll see which batch did better.
On it's own I do get a few plants from self seeding which you can move if they are young, before a long taproot forms.

Sempervirens, thanks for the info on companion plants for A. tuberosa. I have a bit of Phlox subulata growing in my yard and I'm planning to re-landscape soon. Can't move the Asclepias (tuberosa and incarnata) but I can plant some phlox around it. Although I do have a problem w powdery mildew in summer and crowding makes it worse. I've not seen mildew on the moss phlox or the milkweeds.

There are a lot of native species of Asclepias that aren't well known but deserve wider recognition. There's Asclepias viridis (green antelopehorn) from the central US and Asclepias exaltata (poke milkweed) native to my area, the eastern US just to name a couple.

link to info on A. viridis- http://www.missouriplants.com/Greenalt/Asclepias_viridis_page.html
link to info on A. exaltata- http://www.ct-botanical-society.org/galleries/asclepiasexal.html

Native milkweeds, other than A. tuberosa might be challenging to find but I'm having fun experimenting w growing them.

Hi all! New to DG but not to butterflies/moths/hummingbirds. There are so many milkweeds native to the US and others that aren't that I grow a few of as well.

The other milkweed that is an annual for me in OKC, is Asclepias physocarpa, or Family Jewels. Lovely milkweed with white blooms and the Monarchs love it.

Last year I grew, for the first time, Calotropis gigantea, or Giant Milkweed. It can bear either white or purple blooms, and I had the purple ones. Foliage is very substantial. The leaves on mine got up to 12" long and about 6" wide. The Monarchs devoured these, too. They are gorgeous plants, don't attract as many of the oleander aphids, are drought tolerant, and I will definitely grow them again,

I also grow the Tropical, A. curassavica, A. incarnata, A. variegata (a rare one), and hope my seedling come back of A. viridis, A. hirtella, A. purpurescens, A. speciosa, and A. tuberosa.

A volunteer in my garden about 4 years ago, was Cynanchum laeve, milkweed vine. Last year the Monarch cats were all over it. I also was very fortunate to find the little sphinx moth caterpillars of the Obscure Sphinx, which is a light brown color, but has reddish orange underwings. Very rare find here. I raised 5 of them to mature adult stage. it is about the same size as a Nessus Sphinx.

I noticed that Prairie Moon is not carrying as many different species of Asclepias this year and wonder if they had crop failures on a lot of their plants.

A good source for A. curassavica is Everwilde Farms. They generally sell about 1,250 seeds in a packet for $2.50. That's where I got mine last year,

Susan

Susan,

Welcome to DG!! so glad you popped in with all that info. can't have too many MW plants.

Terese

I have some swamp milkweed seeds on order. I'm going to plant them in a wildflower garden I'm building to cover an old popcorn tree stump.

Welcome Susan! I too love milkweed but due to limited yard space am only able to grow the tropical.
JCalhoun you know that it takes approximately 3 yrs for the Swamp milkweed to grow large right? I planted a few seeds last year & only 1 grew & it didn't get to more than maybe 6 inches tall. No flowers but it was good to see that it grew. So I hope it grows again this year.

My "Swamp MW's " were HUGE by the second year up in zones 4 & 5

I dont know if i have any photos... but i know the one in zone 4 was at least 40" and 3' wide at least. it was enormous. I kept trimming it back and cutting back the pods. and that one only 1 plant.

Cool!! This will be my second year so hopefully I'll get blooms!

My Swamp Milkweed didn't bloom until the second yr, but when it did, it was gorgeous. I also had years of monarchs.
Eventually, it self-seeds a little, but it's not too mischievous for the garden. The roots are somewhere between fibrous & tuberous: they spread out in spider-like clusters, & the plants are tough as nails once established. My soil was iron-rich limey clay. I "mulched" with leaf litter in fall & compost in early summer.

A few broke over once in a storm: It makes a beautiful cut flower.

If you live near Central Alabama we will have a plant sale where 3 or 4 types of milkweeds will be for sale. This sale is on April 19, 2011 and all proceeds go to the East Alabama food bank. We will have lots of other native plants if you are interested.

Thanks for the info. I wished I could attend the sale, but unlikely. The B'ham botanical garden plants sale is coming up soon enough.

I had my garden certified as a Monarch Waystation last year by the University of Kansas:

http://www.monarchwatch.org/waystations/

I bought my first A. incarnata 3 years ago and accidentally found the cats. I was hooked!!! Planned the garden all last winter. Bought most of my seeds here:

http://onalee.com/

Free shipping, couldn't beat the price. Seeds arrived fast and germination rate was very high.

I planted A. tuberosa, A. physocarpus, A. curassavica (sp.)(red and gold varieties), A. Incarnata.

This winter I cold/moist stratified A. exhalta and A. purpurescens. Now I have dozens of seedlings. I bought the seeds here:

http://www.butterflyencounters.com/

Some gardening frustration for me is the knowledge that many perennials grown from seed don't bloom the first year. Fought this off by researching plants that DO bloom first season, and buying seeds for annuals like A. curassavica.

Very excited with spring here. Good luck with yours. I also have seeds available for trade.

A.

I too have caught the monarch "bug." I had 6 asclepias variegata come back, much to my surprise, this year (planted them last year). But have LOTS of little plants that I have grown from seed this year after attending the Native Plant Symposium in Denton and learning the plight of the monarch. I went to Prairie Moon and bought every seed they had and had good luck with their germination.
The monarch did visit me the first of the month and lay eggs not only on my variegata, but on even my baby plants. I have a picture of a monarch literally laying on her back because the plant fell over from her weight as she laid her egg. The eggs hatched out at the end of this past week.
I did learn in my research that butterfly weed is not good as a host plant. The monarch would land on it, but leave it immediately as she did the other non-milkweeds.

Are you talking about asclepias tuberosa when you are referring to butterfly weed being not good as a host plant?
Please explain.

I know I have seen the most monarch cats on that plant in my yard.

Based on my observation, the caterpillars prefer to eat the A. incarnata and A. curassavica over A. tuberosa or any other "flavor."

Somehow this must be instinctual because I tended to find no eggs or cats on A. tuberosa, but the majority were laid on A. incarnata. A. curassavica a close second. When feeding cats in containers, they preferred to eat A.i. and A.c over A. t.

That's my interpretation. I don't mean to answer for frostykay. ;)

I did a presentation for our Master Gardener class on monarch and milkweeds, and in my research, most if not all of my sources stated that the A. tuberosa does not contain levels of cardiac glycoside which gives monarchs the poisonous protection against many predators. Two quotes:
Unlike other milkweeds, this plant (A. tuberosa) has a clear sap, and the level of toxic cardiac glycosides is consistently low. (http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/btf_milkweedx.htm)
Asclepias tuberosa is the only species of the genus in Missouri not to have the milky white juice so commonly associated with the genus.
(http://www.missouriplants.com/Redalt/Asclepias_tuberosa_page.html)
Sempervirens, I find it interesting to hear that your A. tuberosa has caterpillars on it. I observed the monarch visiting my milkweeds and she would land on the tuberosa but leave it as quickly as she did the other non-milkweeds. I never checked for eggs since I never observed her laying eggs there, but will check tomorrow.
I did learn that A. tuberosa is considered to be in the top six choices for butterfly nectar plants. Kay

Nice add - thank you for sharing your research. :)

That makes sense. I am just fascinated.

Thanks for the response and links to the butterfly weed A. tuberosa.
I have the butterfly weed planted in mass on the sidewalk strip between the street and side walk among other low plants.
I did notice that a number of cats disappeared overnight last year but attributed it to them being in such an open spot.
I have since planted a few little blue stem grasses and Comptonia in among the butterfly weed to give them a little camouflage, but maybe it wasn't the visibility that made them vulnerable but the lack of toxicity.
I'll find out this year as the grass and sweet fern grows.

I have about 6 swamp milkweed in a number of locations fairly close to each other but have never seen a cat on any of them. Maybe I just have to increase the number. Doug Tallamy mentions 10 of each plant.
I also have 1 A. purpurascens that something ate all the flowers off of but no cats in evidence.

That is interesting about A. Tuberosa

I'm attempting to grow them by seed this year. Ive got other nectar plants... still trying to attract them.

Another reason why Monarchs might have developed/evolved a preference for A. incarnata over A. tuberosa is that A. incarnata grows faster - Butterflies would be less likely to defoliate it before they are ready to pupate. If they land on it then leave, there is something missing when they "taste" it with their feet - they don't recognise it as a host plant. What they are searching for and not finding might be your poison cardiac glycoside.

I had my first monarch in the yard last week. It landed on the A. tuberosa and laid eggs. They are barely out of the ground 2"-3" high. The A. incarnata 6"-8" high. Not sure if it laid any there, but it seemed to avoid them in favor of A. tuberosa. We've had a lot of rain this past week. Not sure how many eggs were laid or remain, but this is the earliest sighting I've ever had.

Yes, I've seen one lone -- presumably Monarch off and on for couple of weeks now. Or could it be Viceroys? I'm not certain. That's very early for me here too. My MWs are making flowers! Have not seen any cats yet.

Buds;

Does anyone here recognizes this maybe a MW? http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1176037/

Hi Lily......I don't know which it is, but I definately think it is a MW. I have three or four in my yard. I may have gotten seeds in a trade a few years back. Can't believe I don't remember planting them. Here is mine. Could it be A. syriaca http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40130/ ?

Here is what mine looks like now. The lower leaves are as long as my hand from wrist to tip of fingers. It is a fast grower. I am not sure any eggs were laid on it either. I find most of them on A. curassivica in my yard.



This message was edited Apr 26, 2011 11:32 AM

I was thinking that one had bloomed, but looked back and another MW I have was identified as Asclepias variegata. Here is the picture of it, when it bloomed it was a cream color but was damaged before I got a picture. I hope to get seeds from it and the mystery one this year.

Signs of something eating the leaves....nothing spotted though. Could be wasp or lizard beat me to a caterpillar.

Sheila, thank you for sharing your info. with me and others. I believe the one I was asking about is a A. syriaca. Oh on that last pix I think I saw a ladybug baby? We too have many of the ladybugs on the making here. Oh I saw some wood boring wasp drilling holes on porch railings. Will those type be harmful to our future cats.?

Not seeing a LB larva...that thing along the stem is a pecan tassle...they are everywhere in the winds we have been having.
On the wasp...not sure about that one, but the paper wasp kills and takes parts of caterpillars to their nest and feeds them to their larva until they seal the nest for them to pupate. They call them "beneficial" but I call them preditors of my butterfly larva.