Do you know where the Milkweed grows?

[Beverly]

Thank you @ Ian , in my case, the notifications have not been going to Spam. I didn't know the "watch thread" was so handy until @MaryMary mentioned it. In fact i have never explored this area. This is just what i needed and it will work very well for me, so no worries on this end.

 

[marlingardener]

Back to milkweed. We have two native varieties, Antelope Horn (Asclepias asperula) and Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridis) growing in our pasture. We take part in the Monarch Watch and report during migration season. Our lives must need some spicing up since we actually enjoy walking five acres, searching out the milkweed, and peeking under leaves for eggs and (oh happy day!) seeing an instar or chrysalis. And we wonder why the neighbors think we are a bit strange . . . .

 

[ChanellG]

Hey @ChanellG i've been growing Tropical Milkweed for 10 years and in that time i think i have noticed 2 spindly volunteers...

When I first started growing it I only had a couple plants - nowhere near enough for ravenous caterpillars. I had to collect my caterpillars and take them across town to get food... it was quite an ordeal. I was able to acquire more plants at a nursery - also across town, but once butterfly season ended, the plants were able to go to seed.

The second year I stuck cuttings when I pruned the plants back, and recently I met someone with a large, well-established plant that was a prolific seed producer. This year I acquired over 3 dozen volunteer plants for free as they were unwanted in my friend's yard. I have found volunteers all over the place in my own yard that I have shared with others as well.

I've been too busy to keep up with the butterflies this year so I never set up a habitat, but I keep passion vine and carrot family plants on hand for the caterpillars as well as the milkweed.

 

[ChanellG]

I remember as a kid in Michigan the milkweed plants were everywhere. When they would get mature we would tear them open and blow the seeds out of the pods just for fun. Maybe that's why they were everywhere.

That's funny. Leave it to kids... I either dead head the pods or put a mesh bag over them to catch the seed. Not that I need seed; once you have milkweed you have it forever.

 

[Beverly]

When I first started growing it I only had a couple plants

Wow, good work Chanell. When i first started out, i had about 6 plants, but there were so many caterpillars and so few predators (it takes them awhile to catch on), i ended up with a famine situation. Garden centers here do not grow and/or sell any Asclepias because it is native and considered a weed. Only recently have people started to garden where i live. There is a cultural stigma associated with gardening here. Later, i did give plants to 3 people but the only one who actually grew it was a neighbor with a rancho on the edge of town. Famine is brutal. I learned from you shortly after i joined this site that the caterpillars will eat squash so i have kept squash in the freezer all these years in case of famine but have never had to use it. So it is great to have so many people growing Asclepias in case you run out and that your garden centers provide a source. Then, at the end of 2014 our volcano started to explode and it exploded until January 2017 and all the butterflies have changed their route. They are only rare visitors now but still i am prepared for them. Also, i have here monarchs, queens, and soldiers who all feed on the plant. In Mexico there is a government program CONABIO dedicated to preserving all native fauna and flora and Jeffrey Glassberg has been consulting with them to protect butterfly species. As a result the govt has been growing Asclepias on major butterfly route land.

 

[MaryMary]

Back to milkweed. We have two native varieties, Antelope Horn (Asclepias asperula) and Green Milkweed (Asclepias viridis) growing in our pasture.

Got seeds?

I didn't know the "watch thread" was so handy until @MaryMary mentioned it.

I love that feature, Beverly! When someone posts a question I don't know the answer to, but want to learn it; I click the "Watch Thread" link (upper right, by your avatar,) to watch the thread. That way I don't have to post in it, and I still can see what answer they got!!

 

[marlingardener]

MaryMary, sorry, at this time we don't have seeds. When the Antelope Horn went to seed, we collected and gave it to a local Master Naturalist group to plant. The Green went to seed and we didn't catch it at the right time.

 

[ChanellG]

...When i first started out, i had about 6 plants, but there were so many caterpillars and so few predators (it takes them awhile to catch on), i ended up with a famine situation...

Wow. @Beverly, I can't imagine living somewhere that gardening had a cultural stigma attached. In New Orleans there is an area known as the Garden District. There plants were chosen for their strong fragrance - so the story goes - to cover up odors from the roads - before paved streets, etc., when horses were the mode of transport... I think the area may also have been known for it's "kitchen gardens" as well.

Today many people have taken up "urban farming" in a return to growing their own food and we have a lot of farmer's markets. There's a good mix of ornamental plants and edibles, and a lot of people exclusively grow butterfly nectar and host plants. We're fortunate to get hummingbirds here as well.

The famine you described is why I've been rescuing unwanted milkweed volunteers from my friends' yard. I've been wondering if frozen squash would be as appealing as fresh, but I haven't needed to find out. This year I haven't protected my plants from egg laying or monitored caterpillar development. My yard is full of lizards and pollinators - including wasps and beetles, but I am not able to get out there enough to police it so the caterpillars are fending for themselves this year.

I get monarchs, gulf fritillaries, eastern black swallowtails, giant swallowtails, buckeyes, long-tailed skippers, red admirals...