Milkweeds: How many and which ones are in your garden??!

I am thrilled to have these trees removed although the neighbors weren't so happy.

And my birds (especially the woodpeckers) are angry with me too for getting rid of all the yummy bug infested trees so they left me (temporarily, I think).

But the trees that are left will be able to grow better (and my DH will have better reception on the satellite dish so he's happy) so altogether I think it's a win-win.

We have had a lot of nice swallowtails visiting the yarden in the past week. Also some smaller orangey butterflies that I can't quite ID because they move so quickly. I wonder if they are some of the vanessas I've been trying to attract!?

I noticed on the DG Articles postings today an essay about the Seven-Sons Flower Shrub (Heptacodium). I googled it for butterfly attraction and it looks like the monarchs love it for nectaring in late summer--I may have to get one (to plant in one of my new 'sunny' spots in the yard).

We have lots of flowers in bloom but no milkweeds right now. I think the currassavica would be blooming except that they are still sitting in their tiny pots waiting to be planted. Must get busy today!

My pink milkweed is getting close to blooming and so is the purple, the ones I've had planted for a while, all of my ones in the host garden are gone except for those darn white ones that they won't use until late in the summer :) I did get some dill planted in the host garden over the weekend.

This is my first year for butterfly weed. I have one incarnata. I noticed that it is starting to form flower buds. I get many monarchs and swallowtails each year. But I'd like to provide something for them besides nectar!

Tabasco, congrats on the tree removal. I love trees, but when they're in the wrong place they can be a disaster waiting to happen. A few years ago I had 3 large trees removed from my yard. Let's just say it saved the house! (And I didn't have to buy mulch for quite awhile!) I'm sure you'll enjoy your new sunny spots!

LeBug, I'm glad to know that dill is a host plant. I have tons of it each year as it reseeds (love the smell of it!).

This message was edited Jun 2, 2008 4:49 PM

figaro52, this is my first year growing dill for the butterflies but I'm pretty sure it's a host plant, tabasco? lol

LeBug- It sure is! I planted the mammoth dill I got in the Piggy Swap and the BSTs chose it over the Bronze Fennel!

Maggie

Hi Maggie :) Well the butterflies are going to have slim pickins in my host garden this year so I'm having to rely on the dill, fennel and parsley in that bed, well the white milkweed too. My new butterflyweeds are so small I hate to pant them yet but I guess they would grow faster if I went ahead and planted them lol I may go out in between the rain drops today and get some of them planted, I've already planted one of my annuals today when I could get out lol I have lots more dill to plant so I guess I better get to planting the rest of them then, thanks!

I was disappointed in my A. curassavica this year. Out of the 50+ plants from last year only about 10 or so sprouted again. Those that did had a workshop wall behind them. I had to sow more seeds and I'll be planting those seedlings tomorrow.

In addition to A. curassavica, here's a list of the various kinds I am growing:
A. physocarpa & fruticosa, Swan Plant
A. incarnata, Swamp
A. asperula, Antelope Horn (need to check on this one in the am)
A. speciosa 'Davis', Greek Milkweed
A. purpurascens, Purple Milkweed (well, at least there's a marker where it grew ly)
A. tuberosa, Butterfly Weed
A. syriaca, Common Milkweed
A. hallii, Hall's Milkweed
I''ve only noticed Monarch eggs and cats on A. curassavica and A. incarnata in my yard this year and last year.
I didn't grow any dill this year. I guess I thought it would come back? The bronze fennel and parsley stayed evergreen all year. I'm glad because I didn't sow any more of either one. Had more eggs on the Bronze fennel this year than the parsley though. So far, I've released about dozen BST's and there's probably 20-30 chrystalis still waiting to eclose.

My main focus is growing milkweed. If you've ever had Monarch cats to die from starvation like I did last year, ya just can't afford to run out. At least with the BST's I can get parsley at the grocery store.

Congrats, T, on getting some sunshine with those trees gone. Opens up a great spot for a sunny bf bed!

dawg, I've never had butterflies to starve but I'm afraid that's what is going to happen this year that's why I wanted perennial milkweeds in my garden too many other plants to plant :) I just planted all of my A. purpurascens (12) and A. tuberosa (12) hoping it's going to grow really fast lol I have others in different places in the yard though. This year really scares me about not having enough! I have a few other purpurascens but they are going on a trade :) I have all kinds of bronze fennel but not so much of the dill and lots of parsley that I need to plant yet, maybe today. I've got some Cinderella that I need to get started that I got from tabasco yet and guess I'll wait until next year to plant the pink swamp milkweeds since they need the cold, no room in the fridge.

That's a lot of weeds for the flutters by will they all be perennial for you?

I think I have the giant swallowtail cats on my rue is that the ones that are black with one white stripe going across the back? I think it is, I have four rues.

I beat the mowers to collect a bunch of Antelope Horns seeds by the roadside recently. Kind of tricky to catch those at just the right time.
The Giant Swallowtail cats look different at different stages, but this is one below. Rue is also used by Black Swallowtail cats, you might have those. Do you have a picture you could post of the cats?

No camera :( But right now they are black with a white stripe going across from side to side, up toward the head I think I read last year that they were the giant swallowtail, I think lol I'll watch and see if they change, thanks Linda :)

Giant Swallowtails look like bird droppings don't they, LeBug, all the milkweeds I listed are perennial for me. The tropical didn't come back in open areas though. That tells me I need to plant buffer plants around them for winter protection and do a better job of mulching.

This site shows Black Swallowtail cats at various stages. I seldom see the Giant Swallowtail cats on Rue because in my area they prefer the Hop Tree, which I have. But the other one uses Rue more often.
http://bugguide.net/node/view/33939

Must be a Black Swallowtail, the cats I have on my rue look like that one in the first picture right now but they are small yet, only about a 1/4" long. I'll keep watching, I hadn't paid much atention to them when they were that small I just saw the mother laying her eggs on the rue, I was pulling weeds with the sun in my face so couldn't see that well but could tell she was laying eggs then just started watching them :) I have other rues but no cats on them, one with that one, one beside the house and one in my nectar garden, had one in the host garden but it died, I love the foliage on them :)

I'm still new with these cats, so much to learn, thanks for the picture LindaTX8 so I could see what it was and I learned something today, now if I can remember it LOL

Does anyone out there know why my tuberosa is wilting, it did this last year and now another one I have planted in another spot is doing the same thing and in my host garden it looks like my white is going to do the same thing, it's not for lack of water...on the tuberosa the tops of the stems eventually keel over and die but the rest of the plant doesn't so I don't get as many blooms.

LeBug,

Could it be too much water? And/Or infection with a fungus? Here are some links I found.

http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/PDIS.1997.81.10.1203?cookieSet=1
"As a consequence of this study, growers now treat their crops with fungicides specific for Rhizoctonia spp. and Pythium spp. to reduce economic damage."
http://www.agri.gov.il/en/people/636.aspx You could e-mail her, she wrote the above article.
http://www.wildflower.org/expert/show.php?id=843 "The most likely cause is a fungal root or stem rot which attacked all of your plants. Newly transplanted plants are particularly susceptible to rot disease as there is often a lot of injury to the roots which are places for the disease pathogen to get into the plants. Also, new transplants are just weaker and more susceptible to fungal attack."

Maggie

The two tuberosa plants that have it have been planted for at least three years, no there are three plants and the white milkweed was planted in spring of last year and it's getting ready to bloom as the tuberosa are, I'll check those links out Maggie, thank you, no one else had had this problem? This is so strange :) They aren't too wet and this is happening in three different spots where I have them planted.

My milkweeds wilt some, but that's from the constant HEAT and the brutal SUN here....as soon as the sun starts going down, they feel SO much better...as long as I keep them watered. Hope yours recover...from whatever it is.

Thanks LindaTX8, mine are dying at the tops, the rest of the plant is fine and it's not the heat I'm afraid I wish it was :) My yarrow does that then in the evening it pops back up, I love my butterfly weeds, I can't lose them :) I'm doing cookies now or at least trying to figure them out lol One of those links won't go thru because of my cookies, it's always something lol

LeBug...The MW tops will or die and the rest of the plant is ok, may be from a brief shower or neighbor's sprinkler in the middle of a sunny day. Water on a leaf in full sun cooks it.

LOL there aren't any neighbors really that have enough flowers here to water I water the one across the street cause she doesn't lol There isn't anyone even close to where my plants are but that was a thought. Thanks, I think I will just clip the tops off and when I figure my cookies out read that link that Maggie sent :)

Lea, that is so weird about your milkweeds. That happened to mine last year, but I had transplanted them to a spot with more sun. They aren't supposed to tolerate transplanting well, and they were 2 year old plants. They all seemed to have come back, good as new this year : ) I hope you figure out what's wrong with yours - for yours and thew monarchs sake. : )

Thanks Meredith, me too!

OMG, I just noticed my swamp milkweed has done what you described yours doing! I went up close to see what was going on and it appears to be a little bit chewed as well, soI am thinking some kind of pest is causing it. Did you notice small green things and something similar to lily leaf beetle larvae? That's what it seemed like to me, like yucky orangy brown something. Sorry I can't describe better, but I'm not good at putting stuff into type.

I just looked and don't see any bugs just dead tops that I'm going to cut off today,

Meredith, I don't know what lily leaf beetles are, but make sure not to kill them if they are ladybug beetle larvae. They are the good guys, they eat aphids, and not the caterpillars.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/showimage/3550/

No this is def. not lady bugs, lady bugs don't eat milkweed or cause plants to wilt and flop over. Plus the milkweeds don't have any aphids yet. The lady bugs are busy on my honeysuckle vine which is practically dieing from all the aphids on it. I don't want to spray them because I don't want to hurt the lady bugs!

I finally had time to read through this thread again-my gosh, such a wealth of information! I want to try starting some milkweed seeds next spring-I really appreciated Meridith's link to Butterfly Encounters as a source for seed. I wanted to add a source of my own-( www.prairiemoon.com ) . They have a really good selection of milkweed seed. Their catalog is very informative and I've purchased bare root plants from them in the past and was very happy with them. I haven't purchased seed from them, but they have a really good selection of wildflower /native plant seeds.
I planted some A. curassavica yesterday in an area I'm now designating as my "butterfly garden"-I also added some pots of Lantana and Heliotrope.

I haven't seen too many butterflies around here yet-a couple have wandered by (but didn't stay long enough for me to get a good look at them . . .)

Take care-
Deb

Well I had another orange butterfly weed bite the dust from that wilting :( I've had this one for a few years, I have another one close by and it's fine, go figure?????

It's so nice out today I'm out planting like crazy, I think I'll wait and plant my cinderella and pink milkweeds in the dirt this fall so they will get bigger faster for next year my other ones that I planted aren't growing very fast, the orange is but the purple is really slow! My other purple that's been there for a while has just finished blooming in my middle garden so I'm waiting to see if I get seeds this year I bet I don't, not sure what is up with this purple but it sure isn't easy to get seeds from! lol My white is blooming, I wish I had a camera so I could get an id for sure what it is.

Thanks for the link Deb, I'll check it out later too :)

I love prairiemoon as well. I have ordered lots of seeds, including purple milkweed from them 2 years in a row. They are very generous with seed, you get a lot more for the money than any other place I've tried. They don't have all the unusual types of milkweeds that butterfly encounters has, but they do have a good selection.

Added - I remembered that I didn't recommend prairiemoon because of their shipping. When I ordered it was a flat $5 which is great if you order lots of seeds but not so great if you only get one pack.

This message was edited Jun 17, 2008 1:16 PM

Lebug, it really stinks about the milkweed. I am noticing a lot of my swamp milkweed are having problems. Thank goodness, I have a bunch of butterfly weed that hasn't had any problems. (Keeping my fingers crossed, that it stays that way.) I am glad some of yours are okay as well. : )

I know it varies from variety to variety, but in general, how many weeks does it take from Asclepias seed to a garden ready plant? I will be starting the seeds in my basement under lights-I have heat mats. It seems like things take a little longer to get going with my set up, but I get nice tomato plants in about 10-12 weeks from seed. I would like to try winter sowing , but have had spotty results doing that. (I know this is a weird question because of all the variables involved, but just need a general idea. I guess I could email Prairie Moon-I'll let you all know what they say).
Thanks!
Deb

Can you tell us what ones you have? I just planted out my A. tuberosa I started indoors a while back. IOt could have been planted out sooner though.

Right now, I just have Common Milkweeds and a few (3) Blood Red A. curassavica. The common milkweeds just reseed themselves where ever they like (they are a "protected species" in my yard-no one touches them!). I'm planning ahead for next year to start seeds of several different varieties. I had planted some swamp milkweeds last summer and they should be hardy here, but I can't find them.

In my experience starting seeds, I always allow extra time-of course that has backfired on me and occasionally I end up with 3 ft tomato plants by planting time!

I started A curassavica on March 30th and I am planting them out now. I don't know about the common milkweed because those grow wild in my yard so I've never started seeds. I am actually trying to rip most of those out because instead of growing in my butterfly gardens, or the wild areas in my yard (where they would be welcome) they are growing in between my walkways, up against the foundation, out of my retaining wall and all through garden areas they shouldn't be! They get very ratty looking and as much as I love Monarchs I am not okay with that. I am okay with all the others just not those, if they were growing out in the back yard - fine - just not where they've decided to grow. They are impossible to pull up as well. If you really want a lot I would actually allow people to pull them. Just sit back and laugh at them after the milkweeds all grow back about ten fold what was pulled, that's what mine have done. The more I try to pull them the more pop up! I have tried digging as much of the roots out as possible and it does not matter they grow back! Okay - sorry for that, but I had to share that with you.

A wintersown A. Tuberosa, 3rd year. They generally bloom most of the summer for me.

Karen

Ohhhh . . .I thought they were just reseeding themselves. I have a patch of common milkweeds right outside my front door by a little whiskey barrel pond, I'm hoping a prettier swamp variety might like the cool damp soil there instead. Maybe I'll have trouble "dispatchng" the common ones . . .it always amazes me when a plant that seems perfectly nice becomes such a pest. I have several examples of that happening in my perennial gardens. I have some Jacobs Ladder that I will never be able to get rid of-I've really come to despise it!

Karen, beautiful A. tuberosa. Wow, you grew that by wintersowing? How did you do it, exactly. I might have to give that a try. I've never had much luck wintersowing, but with the cost of electricity, it might be time to revisit it . . . The only thing I've actually had come up for me were some morning glories-and they dried out after I took their little cover off (my fault completely!)

Which MW is most disease resistant? Every one I've tried has developed powdery
mildew. And any butterfly weed I've tried has always been covered with these
tiny bright orange buggers that I'm told were aphids - but the plants had more
aphids than blooms! I'd spray, & they'd be back in no time.

I grow all kinds of things by wintersowing. I didn't have a great germination rate with butterfly weed, ending up with only 4 seedlings. But then, I didn't want too many more. It is a cheap way to start seeds. I'd like to have more now, but I have absolutely no room left to plant.

Sometimes I can't explain my results. This year only one cornflower germinated! Generally about every seed germinates. Usually didn't have much luck with gaillardia, until a friend told me not to start them until around March- great results that way. So it's probably not a method for people who want to keep everything very scientific, measuring every ray of light... You just have to go with it. It is a leap of faith which usually pays off.

I start almost everything by wintersowing. I buy very few plants now.

Karen

Sorry about the Jacobs Ladder, I planted a few but they have hardly grown since I've planted them. I hope I didn't make a mistake planting them :O