Hello All,
This is my first time on this forum and I feel like I could sit here and read all night. Unfortunately work is calling me so I'll have to ask my question and run.
I started some scarlet milkweed from seed this year and it's just now coming into bloom. I have a gardening friend who asked if he could have a start of it next year for his butterflies, but I told him it was an annual for us and would not come back. After doing a little research though I'm not sure if I gave him the correct answer. Just how hardy IS the scarlet? I seem to be finding every answer from zone 4 to zone 8. (I had no idea there were so many types of milkweed!) I'm sure I can find something for him even if mine doesn't return, but if anyone has a minute to give me the real head's up on what I can grow as a perennial in 5b I would surely be most grateful. Thanks!
This message was edited Jul 28, 2008 9:58 PM
Milkweed Hardiness
I haven't had Scarlet until this year, and I am way south of you, so not much help. But even if it is an annual for you; blooms = seeds!! Make sure you save them. Start seedlings in a cold frame or something next year.
Hi Sheila, thanks for the response. I will definitely grow the Scarlet again next year, even if it's as an annual. The other fellow I refered to is an elderly gentleman, and although he has beautiful gardens he is not a start-from-seed kind of guy. He wants "a start of that milkweed that butterflies like so much," so I need to find out what will be perennial for him.
I looked at the Swamp Milkweed on PF I think you are talking about and it looks like it would be hardy for you.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/539/
Here is another that is hardy to 4b I think it was.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/40130/
Then this is a thread that you may find interesting. Look for people in your zone, and what they say about the plants.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/850131/
Sheila you are an absolute doll, thank you so much for taking the time to help me. I was getting so much mixed information that I wasn't sure what to believe. Most of the posters in that thread live in very similar zones to my own so I think what works for them will also work for me (and my gardening friend).
Thank you!
Great, glad I could help.