I'm trading for A. Physocarpa, I'm a bit worried. I heard that monarchs will lay eggs on african milkweeds but will die b/c it's not nutrient sufficient for them. Is this true?
Can I plant next to my good old american milkweeds and they'll move of their own accord or with my help?
African Milkweed
The way I've heard it with milkweeds is that it has to do with the toxins in milkweeds, not nutrients. Here is a discussion of the toxins.
http://www.monarchwatch.org/milkweed/
It seems I also read somewhere that we should plant those milkweeds native to our areas b/c the local Monarchs are adapted to their toxins. I don't remember where that was. That is not to say the african milkweed should not be planted, however, it should not be planted to the exclusion of your native milkweed.
John
Ohhh, I think I'm safe then! Well, I should say they're safe then.
:-)
I've never heard of an African milkweed. Is it actually from Africa? Do they have Monarch's there?
They have african monarchs which I believe are different from ours. They also have milkweeds, and so does India.
kkb, can you clarify/elaborate on what I said in my post above?
Btw, kennedyh says they now have a Monarch migration in Australia, too!
John
Those are probably the african ones, right? I had no idea Australia has milkweed!
Google: australia monarchs
Quite a bit of stuff comes up. kennedyh told of it sometime ago. I think he said it was b/c the milkweed plant was being established in Australian gardens?
John
It makes it so interesting to have people here from so many different places. I don't know anything about any other place, so I'm everything is new to me.
John, I think your post is correct, the milkweed is used because of it's toxins.