Gomphocarpus Species, Cape Milkweed, Wild Cotton Milkweed

I purchased this plant in 10/2016 from Annies along with a few other varieties of Asclepias. This was the first one to host a Monarch chr...Read Moreysalis. I live in coastal Southern California. It is in a container in partial shade (morning and noon sun) and is doing very well. Especially considering the 14" of rain we have received since October (4 months), this plant is faring better than the others.

I can only give it a Neutral at this time for lack of experience with this plant. It does receive a Positive on how fast it grows once th...Read Moree weather warms up, plus help with a little bit of fertilizer.

I recently bought two plants from Annie's Annuals and Perennials for my container butterfly garden. Containers, as I live in a mobile home whose little bit of yard is comprised of rock and gravel interspersed with cacti and succulents. I would like to grow more native milkweeds, but they are harder to grow for me, as they mostly resent growing in pots.

As the weather is warming up, the G. cancellatus are growing faster accordingly. This is the first time growing this species. From all that I've read online, most comments are positive on it as a monarch caterpillar food source (predominantly Australia and New Zealand).

Several commentators mentioned frost killing the top portion down to the ground, but readily comes up from its root stock. There was one eager cat munching away on one of them already, so it was transferred to another milkweed to give the little plant a chance to grow.

As I learn more of this plant, I'll update comments regarding it.

UPDATE: Since writing this, I have moved from SoCal to up in the mountains of Arizona. I gave my plants to friends and have received great reviews on G. cancellata as a host plant for monarchs, and is a no brainer to grow. Let it dry out well between waterings and drastically cut down winter irrigation. Could rot if too cold and damp during winter.