Asclepias Species, Showy Milkweed, Showy Butterfly Weed, Creek Milkweed, Greek Milkweed

Seeds were planted mid-June 2017, but did not flower the first year. In 2018, 5 plants came up with the tallest at 54"; one is now with a...Read More large seed pod (1st wk of August). The soil here in Bonney Lake is typical of the northwest: acidic.

I am in zone 9b (South San Jose, CA) with extremely heavy clumpy clay soil. I was unsuccessful in planting over thirty milkweed seeds th...Read Moreat I purchased online from two different ebay vendors and failed even in methods obtained from never-fail-youtube videos. I lucked out and randomly found in the late Summer a milkweed plant over at the Westbrae Nursery in Berkeley so that I didn't need to order one online from Annie's in Richmond.
The plant did fine and grew a few inches with no flowers, but I needed to transplant it after a couple of months due to renovations. The plant also did fine in the new location and grew an inch after a few weeks. Out of the blue, five baby milkweed plants sprouted up in the original place from where the plant had been transplanted. I unsuccessfully transplanted one and am leaving the other four untouched.
I did not amend the soil and watered the milkweed about three times a week. A gopher miraculously left the plant alone after inhaling many nearby dying California Poppy plants.

Not as a attractive as butterfly weed (A. tuberosa) or swamp milkweed (A. incarnata), which are also excellent food sources for Monarch b...Read Moreutterfly caterpillars (and great nectar sources for adults), and are easy garden plants that form clumps.

Despite the name, A. speciosa is a dowdy plant that looks a lot like common milkweed (A. syriaca), but it though it doesn't spread as quickly it can still spread aggressively underground under some conditions.

Free seeds for Asclepias speciosa may be obtained through LiveMonarch.org on their website. Milkweed is the ONLY larval food source for t...Read Morehe Monarch butterfly.