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Butterfly Garden

Question about AsclepiasTubersoa Butterfly Weed

10 years ago

I purchased two of these from an reputable online nursery, along with 2 'Ice Ballet' Milkweed.. The butterfly weed are showing no signs of life after being planted for two weeks, while the milkweed are about 6" tall with new growth. Are the butterfly weed much later blooming? Should I have some growth by now, but then my Greggii salvia I planted last year have not shown any new growth this spring either. Any advice?
Thanks, Debra

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Comments (10)

runmede
10 years ago
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed) usually takes longer to emerge in the spring. They like well drained soil.
Debra Vessels
Original Author
10 years ago
Still no sprouts. Anyone in my area have sprouts yet?
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Grows under pine trees? I've been going crazy looking for things that only survive in lots of sun. I'm angling to cut down some pine branches to get some more light to the only "sunny" place on the property where I had to locate the butterfly garden. Do your pines give them filtered sun or part day low light at ground level? We have a stand of White Pines and evergreen trees along the side of the driveway and nothing but weeds and that miserable invasive Chinese Wisteria grow under, around and up them. Milk"weed" qualifies but maybe it won't flower as much without too much light? The foliage is important enough to try them there. The back sides of the pines and evergreens are pretty much bare because of lack of sunlight on the north side but there are places along the south/southeast fronts of these pines to put in milkweed. They survive the root competition from Pine trees? Guess milkweed's long taproots get them the moisture they need. One more question I've been grappling with: I've got mulch all over the Butterfly garden and others to help with moisture and temperature control. Should I not have mulch so things that do will reseed themselves? Under the pine trees there's a perpetually growing layer of pine needles. I'm talking inches deep. Do I have to move mulch/needles to have things find their way to soil contact to have successful natural reseeding or do I need to clear some ground space around plants and the property to allow for natural reseeding? Guess the proper answer is to mulch, collect seeds and sow them around myself. I'm laughing thinking about my father's neighbors and their neat as a pin "lawn and boxwood" yards. People are going to have "weeds" popping up and won't have a clue what they are. Sorry for such elementary questions but all I read since I started this gardening said to mulch and get plenty of sunlight for butterfly attracting plants but I now from reading the forums there are always exceptions and you have to find a way to accomodate the natural surroundings to your purposes.
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docmom_gw
10 years ago
It's been a very cool spring. Many plants are way behind. I'm in a colder zone than you, but none of my milkweeds (tuberosa, incarnata, poke, syriaca) have shown any signs of life, yet. But, I'm not worried. Everything will come in time. If you don't get sprouts later, come back here and some of us will help you out with seeds or seedlings.

Martha
Debra Vessels
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Martha, We are expecting a week of 90 degree weather, so I think things will start poping. Patience was never my strong suit!
Leafhead
10 years ago
Nothing here either...
They're about the last thing up here in the Spring, right after Jack-in-the-Pulpit, which have begun to break ground.
I saw an Ice Ballet for sale, about 3-4" high at a local perennial nursery.
wifey2mikey
10 years ago
Debra - I was just at a plant farm in Stillwater, OK yesterday. They had pots of tuberosa that had not yet sprouted. If you looked really close at the pots, you could see the tiniest bits of green - but the average eye wouldn't even have noticed. Hang in there - they may come up yet.

That being said, I actually lost a tuberosa plant and have no idea why - it had been there three years - was large and beautiful last year - not sure why it didn't come up. The others in my yard are already up and about 6 inches tall.

~Laura
Debra Vessels
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Laura, I have read in a few places that they can be difficult to raise in my area, not lasting more than a year or two. We will see.
Debra Vessels
Original Author
9 years ago
Finally! One has a one inch sprout, and the other is still just a tiny green spot, but they are alive. Just when I was about to dig them up and plant something else in their place. I can't wait to see how fast they grow and get some blooms.
roper2008
9 years ago
Good luck with them. I have the orange Tubersoa, and
it's my favorite. So beautiful. Mine is getting ready to
bloom. It is about 6 or 7 years old now.
Debra Vessels
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks roper2008, mine are also orange. I have great expectations for them, I did not realize they would be this late blooming. But then I have to remember that July is the busiest for the bees and butterflies. I think it will sprout sooner next year.

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