What a beautiful milkweed, Mary!

Congrats on your pipevine cats!

Sherry

Mary, the blooms of the A variegata are beautiful! I sure do hope you get some seed pods. I have two really tiny plants here that came back. The gophers almost got them last year--they stripped the roots--so it will take a while for them to get good root systems. They are now in the hardware cloth baskets to protect them. The purple milkweed is blooming, it's my second most favorite variety.

I love the deep red of the curassavica. I usually plant this and the gold. Seems all the seeds produce the orangey looking flowers!

Glad you are getting the Pipevine Swallowtails. My serpentaria has really gone crazy this year, too. The mamas love to lay their eggs on the leaves. I try to find the tiny cats and shift them over to the tomentosa as they will eat the serpentaria down to the ground.

Sandy

Really loving that red, Mary! I bought some of the 'deep red' at a plant sale a few weeks ago. Can't wait to see the blooms in-garden.

Your variegata blooms are beautiful. Hopefully you will get some seeds this year...it's hard to imagine you wouldn't with such early blooms + pollinators.

All the rain up north has our garden plants green as can be!...however, these torrential rains don't make for good butterfly weather.

BTW- I'm about ready to give up on my 2nd year physocarpa...I have the seedling cups buried next to the mature plants. They still look alive to me...have you had more luck down south? Tony

I haven't posted much on this forum since I moved, because I had to restart a butterfly garden. This spring has been so fun since all the seedlings I planted last year are popping up as mature plants that might bloom this year. I managed to get four ( maybe five) A curassavica seedlings sprouted under lights earlier. They've been out in the garden for a week now and still look healthy. The fifth one even stood up from the ground where it had languished for days. It remains to be seen whether it makes it. I'm hoping to take cuttings from them to overwinter under my grow lights so I can get blossoms earlier.

I also have three second-year A tuberosa and quite a number of A incarnata, since I was able to transplant some from the other house. I've even found some extra A incarnata that "stowed away" in the soil from some other things I transplanted. Yesterday I saw my first big butterfly. Something big and black that flew through too high and quickly to identify, but I suspect a Black Swallowtail. I hope the season continues to bless us with the perfect combination of rains at night and sun all day. I hope all of you are successful, as well. Happy butterfly-ing.

Martha

Mary - gorgeous pics! Your A variegata looks FABULOUS and I hope you get seedpod(s) this year.

From all the seedlings I've started over the years, I've got 2 stalks of A. variegata slowly coming up this year so far, about 3 inches tall and already getting eaten by slugs. I'm thinking I may need to transplant them to different conditions, because they are not thriving where they are now. Also, it's winter hardiness is questionable in this zone.

Love that Silky Red. I would love some seeds if you offer any extras. Bought some Silky Gold seeds a couple weeks ago, but probably won't get around to sowing them this year because I've got TONS of regular A. curassavica seedlings.

Tony,

I haven't had any luck with the Oscar coming back from the roots, either. I think it is going to be an annual here, too.

I did order some Gomphocarpus fruticosus (aka Cotton Bush or Swan plant) seed to try. Another forum member explained to me the difference (I had assumed both plants were basically one and the same) and also said the Cotton Bush might well be a perennial for me in my zone. She said it is a bit smaller plant than Oscar and that the leaves are similar to willow leaves and a bit smaller than the Oscar leaves. Supposed to attract and feed the Monarchs, just as the Oscar does. I'm anxious to try this 'new to me' plant. Oscar does so well here that I'll probably stick with it but do like to try out new plants.

My thanks to everyone for the nice comments on the Red Ring MW. It is lovely this year. But I've had this many blooms before with nary a seedpod. I've read the blossoms are formed slightly differently than most Milkweed and for that reason, they aren't as easily pollinated. If I had any guts, I'd try rooting a cutting but I can't seem to bring myself to remove any of the growth.

Mary

Hi Terrene,

If I get seed from the A curassavica 'Silky Red', I'll be happy to share with anyone who wants seed. I'll post a notice here on the Butterfly forum if seeds become available. I noticed this year it was available through a few retail seed outlets but it seemed to have sold out very quickly. Seems it's always the case with new varieties of plants. I still don't know if the Monarchs favor it. I hope I have some Monarchs visit sometime this year so I can see what they choose to use! :-)

Is there anyone on the forum who can say whether the Monarchs like and use this new variety of Milkweed?

Mary

I have grown this for several years. Hazzard's has had the seed for quite some time. They sell large pkgs at wholesale prices. The Monarchs go to it. I haven't really seen the Monarchs pick a fav among the 3 colors of curassavica. They appear to like it all. However, I like the color--the flowers are beautiful.

I have learned, however, that when you grow all three
colors, what you get back in seed is not always the same as the plant that the seed pod was on. I saved the seed by color of the plant it came from, but when I planted it this year, I can already tell by looking at the stalks of the plants, that the seeds have produced a mixture. Awe, the results of cross-pollenization!

Sandy

I think the term is pollination. Oh well, so much for the aging brain!

Thanks Mary, I gave them until tomorrow to show any growth....most likely they will all be dug out tomorrow.

Then, I'm planting my physocarpa seedings with kramer's amazon celosia...saw this in a photo before and thought it looked like a good combo.

I will let everyone know about the silky red too. This is my first year and I got 6 plants.

I haven't noticed a monarch preference between regular and silky gold.

Tony

Gorgeous! I am trying to remember. Is that the plant you found growing out in a field somewhere? What a great plant. Looking at all the gorgeous milkweeds on the forum, I am definitely going to have to expand my puny collection. At least this year I am going to have purple blooming! I am very excited. I finally have some A. serpentaria growing. I had to move my A. macrophylla vine so if I get any eggs, I don't know if I will be ready. Those guys are piggies!

Congrats on the plants and cats!

Elisabeth

Mary, your variegated blooms are gorgeous! You grow such beautiful plants - no doubting that you have a brilliant green thumb! I do hope you get pollination and resulting seed pods this year. This one is truly a difficult milkweed when it comes to successful pollination.

Sandy, another sucker popped up of the purple milkweed! But no blooms this year, sadly. My garden is pretty shredded and sad looking. We had so much hail damage around my area. So weird how these storms tracked. Lisa had no hail...and she's not that far from me. We got about 10-11" of rain, too.

Susan

Hi Elizabeth,

The little pipevine cats are piggies, for certain!

Yes, this is the same little wild A variegata plant I found on that construction acreage while searching for milkweed to feed my first ever Monarch cats. I was so new to butterfly gardening, I didn't even know what I'd come across, wasn't absolutely certain it was even milkweed. It was you guys, here on the butterfly forum, who ID'ed the little plant and told me how special the plant was to the community; that I should attempt to save it before the construction equipment killed it. Still waiting on a seed pod but always have the pleasure of enjoying the lovely blooms each spring.

I have one Aristolochia macrophylla vine and it is finally beginning to climb. For me, it's been a really slow grower but it might be the planting site. I have it near a large Oak. I've seen photos of it growing in what looks like at least half day sun. Maybe the dappled light it gets here isn't enough.

Mary

Sandy,

My thanks for the heads up on the cross pollination. I'd not even considered that possibility.

It doesn't look like I'm going to have spring Monarch babies this season so plenty of time for 'Oscar' to mature before fall Monarch babies (hopefully) arrive. No longer need all the over-wintered milkweed. With this in mind, I've decided to cut down all of the orange/gold milkweed and move the silky gold to the deck and grow in pots. This will leave the 'Silky Red' in the beds down below. It won't guarantee no cross pollination but might help the situation. May have to consider growing the 'Silky Red' exclusively, if this doesn't work. I wouldn't want to share seed that doesn't come true.

Mary

Shame you didn't get any cats this Spring:( There's still time, though so keep on planting and best of luck:)

Leafhead,

I keep checking all the milkweed and won't give up hope. It's such a crazy weather year, I might still see a straggler or two. The common milkweed is just lovely this year so I've plenty of milkweed leaves to use for food if I get eggs now. In years past, the common gets pretty rough looking after our heat sets in so I don't count on it for fall food. Now, the pressure is off because the Oscar does so well here, so I'm covered both spring and fall now. Now all I need are some Monarch eggs! :-)

Mary