Echinaceamaniac, I feel badly that none of your A variegata seeds sprouted! :( I sent you those in our trade, and believe I got them from the same source as Butterflymom in 2007. However, he sent several pods and it's possible that a whole pod could have poor viability. I sowed 1 container last year in January and only got 1 sprout. This year, I sowed 3 containers, in late winter, and no sprouts yet, but we'll see. Not worried yet because most of the other Asclepias hasn't sprouted either - just 1 A. purpurascens seed so far. If the A variegata get decent germ this year, I will send you more seeds from a different pod to try.

I am looking for seed or seedlings of Asclepias variegata for a project I am working on here in Greensboro, NC. This project is establishing a Meadowlark and Butterfly Sanctuary. All plants of this species in my area haven't set seed in several years and we suspect it is due to loss of pollinators(?). This project is being undertaken by the local chapter of the NC Native Plant Society. I hopefully will germinate any seed we are fortunate enough to obtain so we can plant them in this area. Any help with this would be appreciated. Please feel free to contact me offlist at wildflowerman_2000@yahoo.com if you can help with this request. Thanks, Mark

I received seeds from ctnpchr in fall 2007. I winter-sowed them in both 2008 and 2009. Only 1 seed sprouted in Spring 2008. I sowed a lot more but there was no germination this Spring at all. I shared seeds with at least a dozen other GWers in seed trades or SASBE's, mostly in the winter of 2008. Don't know who got germination last year, but nobody got germination this year that I know of. Meanwhile, my one plant came back this year and was growing nicely. However, with weeks of cool, cloudy, and wet weather recently, the slugs are going nuts and the plant has been eaten to a stick! It seems possible that the seeds lose viability quickly, and it is a difficult plant to germinate. I'm thinking about moving it to a drier and more gravelly spot, along with the Asclepias purpurascens, which is also getting eaten by slugs, but not as badly.

Mark, this is the address of an earlier post from echinaceamaniac a couple of months ago. I don't know how to link to another post, so I am trying this. If it doesn't work, just scroll down the threads in the forum home to the one titled Asclepias variegata. At least one person said she has shared seed before. Good luck. Cynthia http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/natives/msg0415085912254.html?10