I found this page from Seneca Hill Perennials that describes in detail the range of growth habits and culture of the various Asclepias, some very rare and some common. I thought DG gardeners who were thinking about creating or expanding their butterfly garden might find the info useful.
I know different asclepias are hard to find locally and asclepias are one of their specialty plants. They offer them thru mail order.
http://www.senecahillperennials.com/index.php?page=asclepias
(I have not ordered from Seneca Hill before but they have a good reputation on Watchdog: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/1271/ )
FYI Different kinds of Asclepias
Thanks for the link, tabasco! I'll probably try some of them soon.
I have a lot of trouble growing the so-called "easy" milkweeds, like common milkweed and many others that grow in the central, northern and western parts of the country. I recently ordered and planted A. exaltata from Pine Ridge Gardens - so far it hasn't grown much, but then it hasn't been in the ground long. The only milkweeds that grow easily for me are A. incarnata and A. curassavica, with only the A. incarnata being native. I've got plenty of honeyvine/Cynanchum laeve - monarchs laid eggs on it one year, and I successfully raised them on it, but it took a LOT of leaves!!
Sherry
I just planted one from them today. The 'Red' strain tuberosa. I couldn't resist giving it a try.
We had a discussion about Milkweed vine (I suppose there are several kinds) here on DG and decided that the monarchs didn't care much for it for ovipositing, so it's interesting that you got some 'takers'. Some did say that the milkweed vine was rather aggressive in growth habits for them and was best grown out on the fence line or over an old tree stump (and not in the garden). Was yours rather well-behaved?
I'm surprised that you have just one native Asclepias in MS. It just seems like there should be more, although I suppose incarnata and curassavica are easy to grow and supply plenty of leaves.
Right now I just have A. tuberosa, curassavica (from e-bay and a few home grown) and incarnatas planted a few years ago in the yarden. I have some purple milkweed babies, more curassavicas and some incarnatas from seed (slow process, it seems). I do have seed packets for some others, too.
M. I noticed those 'selected' strains of tuberosa on Seneca's website, too, and was almost seduced into buying one of them. (Now I can just bum some seeds from you for next year!) (-:
I just received my order from Everwilde Plants/Seeds for 25 different seed packets for my new 'wild garden' in the back. Now I have to figure out how to plant them....
Sorry, tabasco, that I gave the impression that we only have one native milkweed here. I just meant that of the ones I've personally planted here for monarchs, only A. incarnata is native.
A. lanceolata and A. longifolia are both natives here. A. longifolia grows on my property, but the leaves are very thin and tough, and I've never found any eggs/cats on them. A. lanceolata grows occasionally in boggy areas, and, although the leaves have plenty of the "white stuff" I've never found any eggs/cats on them either. A. tuberosa grows in the northern part of the state but not here. I've found a few plants of A. viridiflora growing here and there, but no eggs/cats there either. And there are undoubtedly others that I don't know about.
Honeyvine IS very aggressive, but I just pull it out of places where I don't want it. It's certainly not a favored host plant for monarchs, but they did use it that one time.
Sherry
I've been trying to get seed pods from some A. lanceolata that grows roadside on Hwy. 49 not too far from here, but they mow over them before the pods mature. I'm continuing to monitor them, though.
Here's a picture of the flowers of the regular flowering A. lanceolata.
Sherry
And I even found some pure yellow flowers growing on one of the plants last year.
If I ever manage to get some seeds, I'll be glad to share them!
Sherry
Do you go on treks along the roadsides looking for Milkweed? Sounds adventuresome.
I look for milkweeds in our park, but don't hazzard the roadside berms , etc. Maybe I should! I might find something rare.
Hope you have good luck with seed pods this fall.
The lanceolota looks like it's too southern for us in Ohio: http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=asla2
I'm heading out to the garden now. Clear sunny day and no humidity (yay!).
I pay attention to all roadside flowers that I see, and if I see something different, I usually pull over and take a look. That's how I found the A. lanceolata - those flowers absolutely glow in the sun!
I haven't done much "adventuring" lately, but I'd sure like to. I especially like to travel the most remote country roads.
The humidity is lower here than it recently was, so it feels better, especially in the mornings, but down here, there's always some humidity.
Sherry