I've attached a link to help ID which bug you have. Right now, the Leaf Milkweed Beetle just showed up in my garden. I fight them every year. They are nasty, because the eat the foliage quickly, and leaf behind a trail of black, slimy residue (frass) on the foliage. The nymphs are soft-bodied, and I hand pick them, put them on the sidewalk and stomp them to pieces. The adult looks like a Lady Beetle, with a hard shell, and I much prefer picking these off for the "stomping" method. Later, I get a few of the seed eating Large Milkweed Bugs and I use the same control method, of hand picking and squashing them. Haven't seen the small ones yet. As you'll see in the attached info, there is also a Swamp Milkweed Beetle, but I have never seen them here. I may yet. Just don't know their range. If you find clusters of yellow eggs on the undersides of the leaves, they are most likely milkweed beetle/bug eggs. Get em before they hatch if you can! Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Milkweed Bugs and Beetles

byrdlady, it's so good to hear this! where i grew up in western PA therew were syriaca grwing everywhere roadside, with nearly every patch having monarch colonies. now the milkweed is less common, because of more mowing, and monarchs are much less common, even up there. i've been trying to get syriaca going here, too. i have some nice patches of tuberosum after working on it for 8 or 9 yrs, and have grown currasvica from seed before. recently got some otherr ones (don't recall off the top), and just this yr, noticed 3 cats on my tuberosum. so maybe it does take a while for them to come. ralph gave me some potted currasavica, which i hope to overwinter in the cool basement, and some cats, too. hoping they'll come back in spring and lay eggs. the last one is making a chrysalis now. your expeience heartens me that i wasn't doing anything wrong. tammy

You must have done a good job growing them. I have a colony of syriaca in a full sun situation, and it spreads like crazy, but some of my vollenteers are in part shade or deeper, and those milkweed stay behaved. One (plant) that has gotten part sun for several years now still has only 2 main stalks with a smaller stalk that continuously grows back after being eaten. Remarkable regeneration. The other plus you get from having them in part sun is the leaves stay fresher and greener much longer than the common milkweeds that have been in full sun all summer. The Monarch caterpillars prefer to eat the tender new growth of the milkweeds. The fuzzy tussock caterpillars that feed on common milkweeds prefer the older, tougher leaves. After several years of decline the eastern Monarch butterfly population rose last year. A lot of us worked to make that happen. These 2 Asclepias syriacas have been here several years, but still only have 2 stalks because they are in part shade. One drawback, the part shade setting prohibits them from ever flowering and setting seeds. There are some milkweeds that prefer a little shade like variegata and exaltata. I just can't wait for the native plant sale!

Variegated Tropical Milkweed - Asclepias curassavica "Charlotte's Blush" is patented & sold by Shady Oaks Butterfly Farm. I just ordered 2 to try. https://shadyoakbutterflyfarm.com/products/variegated-tropical-milkweed-asclepias-curassavica-charlottes-blush-butterfly-host-and-nectar-plant?_pos=1&_sid=368dff7fd&_ss=r MikeTheBeeGuy@yahoo.com