I was wanting to plant some butterfly weed this fall. I'd tried growing it once before but it died. This surprised me since I thought it was supposed to be easy to grow (I mean, it's a weed, right?). But now I'm in a different house with better soil, so I want to try again. I read on Plant Files that it doesn't like to be transplanted. Would this include transferring from nursery pot into the ground? Would I be better off just sowing seeds directly in the garden? Would they bloom the first year from seed? Thanks!
Growing butterfly weed
Which butterfly weed? From a pot to the ground is usually much easier on a plant then digging it up and replanting it.
Does it look something like this? This was easy to grow from seed.
I am not sure which Asclepias is in CoreHHI's photo, but maybe you have Asclepias tuberosa (aka 'butterfly weed' or recently marketed as 'butterfly plant' or 'flower') which is often available in the perennial section in garden centers. It's most often orange-flowered and seen along highway plantings in full sun. It will develop a long tap root so it's not so easy to move around in the garden, but if you have a small plant from the nursery in a pot to move to the garden it should do fine. This perennial does take a couple or three years to settle in and really start blooming.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/73/
One plantfiles poster remarks about A. tuberosa: "It thrives in light, sandy, well drained soil with full sun. It requires little fertilizer. Butterfly Weed lives up to its name, attracting monarchs and other butterflies".
If you are interested in growing other milkweeds that are 'garden-worthy', especially for the Monarchs and other butterflies, you will find loads of information on the Butterfly Forum, too. Many gardeners grow them easily from seeds and cuttings.
Have fun. t.
Thanks! Yes, I was referring to Asclepias Tuberosa. I will definitely be buying a few small pots of it this fall. I hope to attract some monarchs! I've only seen one in my yard this summer. (Well, it may have been a Viceroy. It wouldn't slow down for me, so I couldn't say for sure!)
Tobasco's advice is right on. I have A. tuberosa growing in several spots on the property. Full to part sun. It hangs on the edges of banks and pastures in the worst soil and rocks. Young nursery plants, without established tap roots, should do well. It's impossible to transplant. If seed will help, and you have collecting info, I'd be glad to harvest some for you. Ours bloomed in late Spring and are blooming again now.
Laurel
There is a planting of asclepias t. I admire every year,on a rail road bank!! It's been cutback by the RR crews numerous times,hot sun,drought,and yet blooms it's head off every year. I tried to remove a nearby piece one time,and it died in my
" perfect circumstances". I leave it alone now,and just wait for it to bloom on the RR bank. Poppop
I also have a wild stand of A.t. that is in poor soil and does well (although 'someone' eats the flowers, but it rebloomed; and in theory deer don't eat it because it's toxic. Obviously, I have illiterate deer). I winter sowed some around January last year, outside in plastic containers. Not many germinated but from that I got 2 good little plants. I potted them up for a few weeks then put them in 2 different places. Both did well and bloomed their first year! Now I'm just battling the milkweed bugs (I just dispatched 7 more!) to rescue the seed pods so that I can be the Johnny Appleseed of Butterfly weed in my rural n'hood.
Well, I guess the "improved soil" at my current house won't help with butterfly weed! I'll have to find a really neglected, sunny area.
Laurel, that would be great if you want to share some of your seeds with me! I'm not sure of the procedure, but I posted it as a "want" in the Trading section. I doubt if I have anything you'd want, but I can offer you seeds from Torch flower, Rudbeckia Goldstrum (ho hum...), Sundown coneflower, 4 o'clocks or shasta daisies. I think everything else got dead-headed...
I am open to trades, but what I would like to do is help you out here with your garden goals. Don't worry about reciprocating. Some seed needs to be collected and planted, some stratified, etc.. Can you help me, help you, by trying to find the right time and way to collect and store the seed. I'll be glad to follow your instructions. Maybe Cedar (Pam) can help us here. She is near Maypop, in N. Ga, and I can ask her for her expert advice regarding timing and methods for seed storage. You will have to DMail me as to whether you would like to come to Sandy Springs for a pick up, or visit us at Maypop, up in Cleveland. I'll check out the plants and you be sure to DMail me if interested, ok?
Laurel
Here's an article about A. tuberosa that suggests 'root cuttings' are an easy way to propagate it, too. And certainly worth a try, since now is the time for it. I have never done it, but I'm going to try it today. I am trying to root some stem cuttings in a vase of water.
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ASTU
The way I collect the seed is watch the plant until the pods are about ready to break open, then collect the pod and put it into a paper sack until it opens. You can then separate the seeds from the white stuff (can't think of the name). Many of the Milkweeds around here have pods ready to pop now.
If you want to send someone seeds, just collect a nice fat pod ready to open and put it into a zip loc, label it with the type of MW and the date, and send it off to them in an envelope. They can then dry it out in a paper bag, let it pop open in the bag, and separate the seeds from the white stuff. Be careful because when the pods do pop open in the house the white stuff can get all over the place.
Keep the pods/seeds labelled, because if you're like me last year, I got addicted to MW pod collecting and by October I had so many different pods I kept getting them mixed up.
(The Seed Collecting was fun to do, by the way, if you haven't done it before, and there is a fun thread called "Seed Snatchers Adventures' or something like that, that chronicles lots of 'techniques' and fun seed snatching outings)
Yes, I must have had a brain burp there. Then I remembered that I used to collect the pods for dried arrangements. They would always pop open and be floating around the house. lol I've had the same thing happen with cattails. What a mess! Will be on pod patrol.
Laurel
Please don't confuse me with anyone who knows the wright way, but I have been sucsessful at digging, and replanting A.tubrosa, and it actually came up better than it was.I had to move it because of the spreading shade, and moved it in Nov.Since I broke the tubers, I carefully cut them in about 2" sections, making sure I had no jaged ends, and put them in the ground, with poor soil, and choped up the soil to get a good coverage.Then mulched to mark the spot, and they are beautiful now.Mike