Wild Orange Butterfly Weed

I have had a wild orange butterfly weed in my woods for years. It bloomed this past summer and my husband noticed it had seed pods on it. I waited and just the other night i caught sight of it in my headlights and the pods had opened. I got out of my car and removed the fluffy seeds and placed them in a napkin.

Can i plant these in my garden or do they have to be in the woods?

Are these rare i don't see them alot?

I would appreciate any information on these.

do they look like this?
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/73/ --Asclepias tuberosa

I can not see any reason why you couldnt plant them. If they are Asclepias tuberosa, they may not bloom until the second year.

I winter sown some seeds this past year... planted them out... the monarch cats loved them... and i'm hoping they bloom next year.

Yes that is it i'm so glad i will be able to plant them in my garden. I already have milk weed in there and fennel too.
Should i plant them in the garden or put them in peat pots then transfer them to the garden.

I'd think with the longer growing season you have, just sowing right into the ground would be fine.

I have no idea if they have transplant problems... i know some plants dont like their roots disturbed when planting... that is the only time i use the Peat Pots.... I've planted the Scarlet MW with no issues at all.

one thing i have heard about the Asclepias tuberosa is that once they are established, they dont like to be moved... I'm assuming they have a tap root, which makes transplanting a problem.

If you can't find any more info on these... check out the Hummer Butterfly forum... i'm sure they may know.

Thanks tsc1336 with this info i will certainly plant these in my herb garden next spring.

A. tuberosa does have a long taproot which makes it quite drought tolerant. I have successfully transplanted some smaller plants from the wild but not large, well established ones. The seeds have about a 50 percent germination rate and, if I recall correctly, don't need to be covered deep.

I winter-sowed (in a container) Butterfly weed early this year and and while the germination rate was poor, of the 3 plants I got, 1 did bloom this summer. I will try again this year in a container as well as in the ground from the seeds collected. I had a big problem with milkweed bugs though. They swarmed over my few plants; I was dispatching over a dozen a day just from one plant, for example. This went on for seemingly weeks. My understanding is that the bugs are not a big problem unless you want to harvest the seed pods, which I did.

Bugs what do they look like? I had some orange colored bugs looked like aphids? So would you recommend putting my seeds in containers or the ground?

I'd say if you have the aphids, whether they are in the ground or containers... those bugs will get them.

I know i had a photo of them in teh bug ID forum.... I also just googled it to find more info.... lemme see if i can locate my image.

The milkweed bugs are actually very pretty! Orange and black harlequin design. I'm not sure which of these I had (maybe both)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/199/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4910/

I "got" to see them in all stages. They breed like bunnies.

Seeds: I am going to do both - containers (see winter-sowing forum) outside and just spread the seeds in the ground like mother nature does. I also 'channeled' Johnny Appleseed this year, dropping the Butterfly weed seeds along our rural roadsides. We do have some naturally occurring stands of butterfly weed, but not enough to my way of thinking.

Let us know how it goes. I was so excited when my new plants bloomed!!

found my thread in the Hummer/Butterfly Forum
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/744827/

Cedar -- uggg, those are nasty lookin.

up here, I get the Gold Aphids. I do not recall the Milkweed bugs.

Thank you i haven't had those yet the milkweed i have is first year plants looks like i had aphids. I had never had milk weed and it was recomended to me for butterflys this was my first time planting it.
It actually grew very well and i have about 20 plants from seed it had a beautiful blooms and was very drought tolerant. But i was confused why i never saw a butterfly on the blooms they just ignored it. I actually saw during the monarch migration one land and feed on it a little while after these strange worms ate it to almost to the ground. I was happy when they all died until i found out they were monarch cats then i was very sad. Well something ate my seed pods didn't know what they were either all the fuzzy stuff i thought came from the worms LOL!
Live and learn i will look for the milk weed bugs next year and i won't think the cats are bad.

A few seasons ago, I bought an envelope of commercially produced Butterfly Weed. I started several in peat pots and later planted them around. The original that I kept in my own yard is now hip high and makes seeds like a madman. I plan to continue collecting and trading seeds, and spreading plants around my neighborhood. I love this plant! The only thing you have to be careful of is that they emerge later than most things in the Spring and sometimes they get pulled by accident.

I have seeds in my trade list.

Ah nilly, I see you are doing the Johnny Appleseed thing like me with this plant. Great! Spreading butterfly cheer.

Absolutely!
And hummingbird cheer, too!
I figure if I want them in my own yard it doesn't hurt to invite them to the whole neighborhood!

After these bloom you can cut them to the ground and they'll come up and bloom again.