butterfly weed pods

I'm bringing some butterfly weed seed pods to my sister. Does she need to let them dry out before opening them for the seeds?

Actually, if the pods are not mature enough, your seeds won't be any good.
The pods should start to turn a yellow green when they are close to ripe.
It you pick them at that point and very carefully open them, you can pinch the top of the silks with your fingers and very carefully pull them out of the pod, and pull the seeds off the silk very easily. They are very neatly arranged and if you can catch them at the right time it works great.
If not you can put the nearly ripe pod in a paper bag and try to pick them off the silks when they open by themselves.
Believe me it is nor easy, after they come loose and start to float.
But to some it up, the pods should be very close to ripe before you pick them, no matter which way you handle them.
Josephine.

Mine don't seem to yellow before they "poof" but they do get black spots and streaks on them. I'll bag them when they get streaky...hopefully that will work. Do the seeds need to be brown? The ones cut out of the pod are white and damp.

Yes, the seeds have to be brown to be ripe, if the seeds are white it is too soon.
Try opening the pods at different stages and you will learn when the right time is.
You will develop a good way to tell when they are ready.
but watch your pods every day as they plump up, or they will burst on you and fly away.
Josephine.

A photo .. merely to serve to give you some idea of what to 'spect .. greenie67

http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/89020/#89020

- Magpye

ohhhh I need some of that plant.... anyone wanna trade some seed?

Thanks for the photo, though I'm bummed I don't have anything ripe to give her when I have about 50 pods out there - they just aren't ready yet. I'll just mail her the seeds when I get back. I've been letting them pop on their own and we'll see how many volunteers we have next year. =) Thanks everyone for the info, as usual!

renatelynne... I have some of these seeds. I will need to get them, but everytime I look, there are more seed pods, so gathering a fair amount shouldn't be hard. Dmail me if you are interested and I am sure we can work something out. Mine is the orange/red variety in the pics on the link above.

I purchased a container labeled "weeping pink butterfly weed". No label photo. The plant itself is upright growing. It's yet to bloom and I have not been able to find a photo of pink butterfly weed with any reference to "weeping" blooms. Any ideas what I may have?

In the past, I've tied the cut-off foot part of old used up pantyhose over milkweed pods when I couldn't afford to rely on my own (sometimes not frequent enough) inspections to collect the ripe pod.

Lulu, I have never heard of a weeping Asclepias, or milkweed, maybe it is a different kind of plant, can you show us a picture?

Frostweed, if you have never heard of it, I trust it doesn't exist. Here is a photo of the leaves. Do you think this a butterfly weed?

Lulu, it looks pretty but I don't think it is a milkweed, it looks more like a butterfly bush, but I don't now which kind. Maybe something like this;
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/7813/
Josephine.

Thank you, Josepine. I took leaves and compared them to Adonis Blue and Black Night.You are right I have pink butterfly bush instead of butterfly weed. How exciting, I can live with that.

yea I have to agree with frostweed... it is some kind of butterfly bush.

Good deal, at least you know what you have, and it is a good thing.
They sure mislabel things sometimes.
Josephine.

Well, I went looking for the pot it came in. Indeed it does say "weeping pink butterfly bush" I feel silly and would feel guilty letting the nursery take the blame.