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

t, I have a cinderella plant! I saw this odd bloom and looked it up and it was the cinderella lol I have so many weeds in my wild bird garden and I know I have a couple of purple milkweed up there but a cinderella plant I had no idea, those blooms are cool too! I've never seen any seed pods on that one either, I wonder if it takes them as long as the purple ones to get seed pods, I'm wondering if I will get seed pods off of my purple this year. I'm going to check that link out again and see about the cinderella, do you know anything about them? They have the thicker leaves like the purple one.

I signed up my garden for the Monarch Waystation, and now I am certified!!! If you are interested go to www.monarchwatch.org

Earlier this evening I spotted 3 monarch cats ravaging my a. incarnata. (It's a strange feeling to see a plant being eaten and actually being happy about it!!) I was unable to get my camera to focus since the lighting wasn't good enough. Maybe tomorrow. Last week I noticed 5 or 6 swallowtail cats in the dill patch -- they have since disappeared. I hope the birds didn't get them. This is my first year for growing butterfly weed.

Lebug if this is the one you have http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54062/ you should get seeds. I got a ton the first year I had mine with flowers.

I joined DG a couple weeks ago and saw this thread this morning. I grew up in a small town. During the summer I spent a few weeks at Grandpa's farm. He used to send me out with a corn knife with orders to chop down any weeds I could find. Milkweeds and burdock were mortal enenmies of his. A few years ago a lady I know mentioned milkweeds in her yard and how much she enjoyed the butterflies and hummingbirds around them. I thought she was nuts. Seeing a few butterflies or hummingbirds can't be worth having a bunch of milkweed in her yard. I saw this thread and the same thought ran through my mind. I had to read it.

Judy (my spousal equivalent) and I decided to try flower gardening this spring. Five years ago we got into trees and ornamental grass. We needed a fresh challenge. We've bought around 60 plants. [Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.] We've put in two new flower gardens and enlarged four. Three others we haven't touched because of the ornamental grass in them. When I picked out the plants I kept in mind hummingbird and butterfly attraction. We bought red penstemon, "Fanal" astilbe, Keys of Heaven, Black Knight butterfly bush, White foxglove, White dragonflower, Limerock Dream coreopsis, Butterfly weed, Endless Summer hydrangeas, three types of heuchera and some others I can't think of right now. I'm too new at flower gardening to even try remembering Latin names.

While searching for plants to buy I vaguely remember seeing some with the name including milkweed. I glossed over them. The training my grandfather gave me regarding milkweeds is tough to let go of. I'll try to soften my views. Thank you for this thread. I'll also mark the forum as one to watch.

Gary

Welcome to DG’s Gary and welcome to the butterfly and hummingbird forum, lots of great things going on here wherever you are 8) Sounds like you have a great start on some flowers, you’ll be starting your own seeds for your gardens before you know it if we have anything to do with it lol It’s a lot cheaper and a lot more fun! Which milkweed did you get, the orange one is the prettiest I think, I just grew and planted close to 20 of them in my host garden, along with some purple, I’ve been a member here for about four years and don’t think I will ever learn the latin names lol

figaro52, that’s why a lot of people on here raise cats, I just don’t have the time but one of these days I would love to get into it, I had some cats on my rue but they came up missing, I imagine the birds got them :( Unless they are in the very center and I just didn’t see them, I hope that’s the case :)

Meredith, Yes that’s what I have, the Cinderella, it’s such an unusual one I think, I love it :) Thanks for the headsup on the seeds sometimes I forget I even have the butterfly weeds in the bird garden so I forget to look for seeds up there.

I just pulled my dill, didn’t want the dill and the fennel crossing, this was the first year for me to plant dill too lol I'm not a big fan of the smell of dill or fennel either one but the fennel is soo much prettier lol

I didn't buy any plants with milkweed in the common name, LeBug. I probably got some in the Family but I haven't learned the Latin names yet. I see if I start hanging out with you guys I'll have to learn. :< ) I bought Butterfly weed. It's supposed to be orange. I planted them near my hydrangeas beause they can live in acidic soil. I'll be trying to get dark blue blooms on the Endless Summer hydrangeas; a tribute to my Chicago Bears and U of I football teams, orange and blue.

Parsley and dill as border plants? I would never have thought of that on my own. That's a great idea.

Gary

Gk your butterfly weed is a milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/73/
Sounds like you are off to a good start with your nectar plants. The reason most people want to grow milkweeds is because it is the Monarch caterpillar's host plant. No milkweed = no Monarchs. (If you didn't already know.) The only milkweed I don't recommend is the common milkweed Asclepias syriaca - only because it spreads by a long root sideways and they are impossible to get rid of. All the others are a much better choice especially for someone that is weary of milkweed any way. If you see Monarchs around your butterfly weed start checking for the caterpillars. They are cute little buggers. : )

Yes Gary, parsley makes a great border plant, I had severl around my host garden last year but they didn't come back for some reason may have been the wet winter we had I only had one that was planted by my butterfly bush, I plant parsley around my butterfly bushes too and they use them :) I'm glad I winter sowed some extras, but then you can naver have too much of the parsley. Asclepias tuberosa (the orange) is my favorite! I just got thru planting 5 more in the host garden that I just found in my seedlings that I forgot I had, that put me over 20 of them in the host garden lol

Meredith, is that your picture? That's just beautiful if it is you'll have to enter that one in the contest this year! It's perfect!

Thank you Lebug, it is one of my favorite pics I've gotten of a monarch caterpillar. Actually it is my favorite! ^_^

This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 11:17 AM

I had seeds to that Asclepias syriaca just kept debating if I should plant them or not when I read they had underground runners, the wild bird garden would be a good place for them but debating that one too even lol I'm not even sure I kept the seeds I got them about two years ago.

Lebug those runners will send plants that come up 50 ft and *more* from the original plant so they will probably not behave and stay in your wild bird garden. Just some food for thought. I found that out when I tried digging all the plants out to 'save' from the bulldozer, I might of well had put irrigation in, the way I had to dig all across my yard to get them.

*Added

This message was edited Jun 20, 2008 11:30 AM

Well if I haven't thrown them out I will this year :) Don't need that problem lol

Lol Lebug, I think that's a good idea. You have so many other milkweeds for the butterflies I don't think the pesky ones are worth it. I got around to getting a picture of my milkweed that is having problems. Do you think there is a better place to post it to see if anyone can figure out what is going on.

If you don't get your answer here, you might try the Garden pests and disease's forum. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/pad/all/

I have been growing asclepias fascicularis for the past two or three years. I started with one plant and I now have about ten plants (which is okay with me!!). I was just wondering if the kind of asclepias make a difference in attracting butterflies. I have seen some butterflies in my garden that I have never seen before but some of the old standbys (Gulf Fritillary, cabbage butterflies, etc.) are not making much of a showing this year.

Thanks,

Chuck

Hi Chuck, the only asclepias that the butterflies don't pay much attention to in my host garden are the white ones, not sure which white ones they are, haven't been able to id them, they will lay eggs on them eventually but it's usually later in the season. I have a lot of the ones that look like painted ladies right now, I haven't seen too many of the cabbage either but then I think most of them come a little later, all of them are laying eggs now and then we will have too many again that one that I really don't care for :) Try growing ornimental cabbage those cabbage cats on those are so hard to get rid of before they destroy your cabages, that reminds me I need to plant those lol

Meredith, my white milkweeds were doing that and they perked back up I did lose one of my orange ones though :( Do they have a forum for plant desieases? I didn't see one maybe put on this forum where some people know about milkweeds and butterfly weeds? Or that link that Sheila put up should be good.

Hey, folks -

About my MW question - which is the most disease resistant? And on the
butterfly weed - I thought I dug them up last year (& planted some Dianthus), but
I just noticed yesterday that some BW is coming up in the middle of one of the
Dianthus! Persistant little cuss! So about the little orange aphid thingies -
will they hurt anything else in the garden (I know I can spray the BW with organic
insecticidal soap)? I'm concerned because I've had a serious spidermite prob-
lem this spring (that I finally seem to have gotten on top of), so I'm hoping the
aphids won't hurt any of my already stressed-out plants. HELP!

carol13, Milkweeds will always get those aphids, however I don't recommend spraying them because you may harm Monarch caterpillars that will most likely end up on your plants. I have never had a problem with the aphids moving from milkweeds to other plants in my yard. Plus if you let nature take course you will end up with ladybugs that will take care of your aphid problem. If you spray you could be killing ladybug larvae and monarch egss or cats without even knowing it! Safest way to control them is to put on some gloves and kinda squish em off with your fingers or a hard blast from the hose will usually get enough off to keep the plants from getting too stressed out. I have watched my Lonicera sempervirens get heavily infested with aphids two years in arow, and both times the problem has cleared on it's own. I was just checking it and the aphids are down t hardly any. They aren't those orange ones they are black ones that like my lonicera. I always try to remember that nature has a way to balance these things out (even though sometimes it is really hard to sit back and watch a plant I love get chewed). I don't think any Milkweeds are disease resistant? I think just matching their siting in your yard according to their needs will help. Example - If you grow A. tuberosa it prefers well drained sandy soil in a lot of sun and does not like wet soil. Where the A. incarnata prefers moist well-drained soil and can take boggy conditions and some shade. Can you tell us what the area you need to plant them in is like? Is it sandy, clay, loamy; how much sun etc.

Aak, I am getting all these milkweeds confused!

Meredith, what is the name of this beauty? http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=5132671

Lea, My parsley didn't come back, either, and I had a LOT of it ...grrrr.

Chuck, Welcome to DG!

Carol, Aphids are very bad news if you grow (m)any plants that get virus and die (like lilies, genus Lilium) . Aphids are a vector for the viruses. That's one of the reasons I am only so-so on the milkweeds. Well, that and the fact that I forget which are good and which are bad, I haven't looked lately, but I have Cinderella if it hasn't drowned, and the red ones that aren't hardy, and the orange tuberosa one and some mystery ones from Maggie (Margaran) . I also have The white one, but it is worthless in terms of Monarchs and it is getting sort of out of bounds. You can't really divide the milkweeds, can you? Mine appears to be coming from a central point, not a crown.

The butterflies have gone elsewhere. I have seen one of everything here in the last month, but only one, and only for one minute....then they fly off. Today I had a Mourning Cloak, and I bet I don't see it for another year. It's very discouraging! Oh, I have Cabbage whites, though. :))

Suzy

Suzy, It's funny but that is not a milkweed. The caterpillar was confused and found it's way onto my autumn joy sedum that was right next to the milkweeds! He didn't eat it but I got a pretty picture because of it. : )

Thanks for the info guys. I think now I'll just let the BW grow as it may, squish the
buggers & hope for the best. I'll only spray if, God forebid, the spidermites come
back.
I've tried different MW in pots, because I only have a small area to plant my but-
terfly stuff & I already have a bunch of plants there. I plan on putting in a raised bed
next spring, so I might try the MW again then.
Butterfly population way down, tho. I had 5 GST cats on my rue, but they've dis-
appeared. Nothing but sweat bees on my parsley, nuttin' on the dill or fennel.
What's up with the flutterbies this year?

Suzy I've got more parsley seedlings left, I put them around the host garden again I'll save them for you if Robin ever comes by lol

Well I've planted my purple milkweeds in the sun then I saw they needed part sun so I planted tall sunflowers in the middle of them hoping they would shade them some, next time I'll read the directions better LOL I'm not one to follow directions only when things go bad LOL Now I'm paying for it, I had about 20 plants of them now I only have seven and nowhere else prepared to plant them! But I am killing grass today :)

Last winter, I thought that my milkweeds were dead as there was only a stem about six inches high with a little green on the bottom of the plants. However, they had golden aphids on the green part. I called Las Pilitas Native Plant Nursery and asked them if I should spray the aphids. They told me not to as this was an indication that the asclepias plants were still alive. Sure enough, the plants are thriving now with no aphids. I guess I will have to go through this again next winter. If so, I hope that the golden aphids come back.

Thanks,

Chuck

Meredith, bring that picture over here, that's such a cool picture!

Chuck I was going to plant some nicotia (sp) tobbacco plant in with the milkweeds hoping some of the aphids would go to that plant but I never got around to it lol Once they get on their leaves they can't get off they are sticky guess I'll have to try that experiment next year, so many seeds I wanted to do this year and just not enough time lol They don't really hurt the plant that much but they can really mess the seeds up.

Hummingbirds love nicotiana. If you direct seed now you'll have blooming plants in no time. They also reseed like crazy, so if you start them once you'll most likely have them forever. Most are very fragrant at night, too.

Karen

I had a bunch in one garden and only two reseeded and I'm just hoping it wasn't the white :) I have some seeds somewhere but frankly I'm tired of looking for seeds lol

I'm having a hard time finding seeds of just a red one, I don't want that one that has red and green and that's the only one I've seen as far as red. I want a showy red one like you'd see in a garden center, but do ya think they'd have one? Nope : (

I have seeds to the wine colored one but no red :( I'm looking for all kinds of red flowers seeds too.

I'm thinking about buying a mix that has red in it and just pulling the others colors. http://www.burpee.com/product/annual+flowers/nicotiana/nicotiana+heaven+scent++-+1+pkt+%2850+seeds%29.do

Oooh look what I found. : ) http://www.neseed.com/Nicotiana_i_Saratoga_Imperial_Red_i_p/15204.htm

Meridith79, what a neat website for seeds-I thought I had seen them all, but I've never even heard of that one. They have a nice selection of veggies and flowers. Because of our short summers, I planted a flat of Nicotiana (mixed colors) inside under lights to take up to my cabin. They were quite easy to sprout and transplanted OK. I haven't grown them before so I'm very interested to see how they turn out.

Oh nice : ) You'll have to show us how they work out later in the summer.

Oh I agree that is a great color and plant I have several of them.

Thanks for sharing the link to that site.

Janet

Tabasco,

This is the first year that I have blooms on my butterfly weed. I bought some incarnata, tuberosa, and curassivica in mid to late summer last year, but they never had a chance to bloom. The leaves were stripped off by monarchs within a couple of weeks. I had never seen a monarch catepillar until then. I didn't realize that they were so large or so pretty.

This year, I started everything from seed, plus the tuberosa from last year came up. I probably have a good 30 plants altogether, and they are all begining to bloom. I haven't seen any cats or Monarchs yet, but I will be prepared when they come.

Cathy (Svplantingfool) was nice enough to send me some incarnata and curassivica seeds this spring. Cathy, everything did very well. My germination rate was very high. Thank you again.

This is the only one (have 3 of them) that has lived in my garden.

Would someone let me know if this is the swamp milkweed or what it is if not that?

thanks for any help.

Janet

It looks like a common milkweed A. syriaca to me. That's the ones I get volunteering here. However the A. speciosa has similar leaves. If you can post a picture when it is flowering I could tell for sure. I know it's definitely not a swamp milkweed, the leaves on a swamp milkweed are more skinny and pointy like this http://davesgarden.com/tools/journal/showimage.php?eid=98879

thanks Meredith79 for the insight. This one has a really long tap root if that should help. I've been working on having butterfly and hummer favorite plants in the back yard and the front...

I purchased 25 other types of milkweed to only get them and 95% of the plants be dead and the remaining 4 to die... the company said they would send replacements but that was over a month ago.

So I'm looking for other places to purchase other plants from to plant and be ready for next year.

This is my first year to really get my garden going and I'm so thrilled.

janet

That is too bad about all the milkweeds dieing : ( I am having a problem with my Swamp Milkweed this year, and if I remember correctly it didn't do well last year either. I don't know what's wrong with it, I posted a photo on the pest and disease forum and no one could give me a definite answer. One person kept saying cold damage, but this was one of the last things to pop up in spring. The only things that took longer were my Hardy Hibiscus. The oddest part is it's supposed to like moist soil but the 2nd year seedlings I have growing in a much drier spot are all healthy as can be.
Did you have time to read through the whole thread? There is lots of info about the various milkweeds we all grow and which are easy and which are overly aggressive and all sorts of great info to help you plan what ones you'll try next. Good luck with your next planting!

Yes I'm still working my way through this great thread.

I just love how helpful everyone has been with the places, the pictures and the information is great.

thanks for responding.

Janet