I can't speak to the availability of milkweed plants, other than I know that there are plenty of internet sources. I did grow some from seed last year, and that was a very easy and successful experience.

In the meantime, have you contacted these folks? (See attached link.) The president, Dale Clark, was featured in a newspaper article last year (in Dallas) that focused entirely on Monarchs and milkweed species.

Here is a link that might be useful: Meet your new pals!

Most nurseries carry them around the month of July-September. You can always purchase seeds and start them in spring.

I'm always nervous buying asclepias at nurseries as some use pesticides to keep the plant attractive. Asclepias attract oleander aphids like crazy.

I started calling around this morning and found a place that has one tropical milkweed plant left. I'm having them hold it for me til I can get off work.

I also asked the nursery that didn't have any why that is, and was told that part of it is because of that article rhizo mentions. I guess they sold out everywhere because of it. He also said that they're having a hard time getting it from the growers so right now it's just scarce in my area. At least I found one...that's a start!

Thanks!!!

Milkweed seedlings are readily available here in Madison, Wisconsin, at various plant nurseries and also the Saturday Farmers Market, held at the capitol square. We have a big university here, the University of Wisconsin, and also a restored prairie at the UW Arboretum. Aldo Leopold, and others, were responsible for starting this prairie, back in the 1930's. Since there is a lot of interest around here in native plants, there is a steady market for various native plant seedlings, including several varieties of milkweed. I might not be from Texas, but I've been there, and I know there is a lot of interest in native plants, and butterflies, so there is a potential market. Do they ever have a native plant sale at that public garden complex, the one with the kiddie train ride?

Saw lots of incarnata at Home Depot the other day.

I'm a milkweed enthusiast (and collector of species from the Asclepias genus, and there are a lot.

Your profile doesn't say what state you are in. I could help you identify the native milkweeds. You can buy plants from many places.

Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is not cold hardy in most of the US, but I grow mine in a pot bring it inside for the winter and let sit by the south facing window.

Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) is native to 2/3 of the North America and is fairly drought tolerant once it is established, plus it only spreads by seed (a big plus), often available in nurseries. The closest to a no fuss milkweed that fits well into the novice gardeners idea of foundation plantings is this species. Bloom colors red, orange, yellow. I bought my seed at Home Depot (Burpee, I think), with about 20 plants planted tightly together, most are mature now. Here is a picture from the other day:

http://www.schaefer.dhcp.biz/albums/Garden2009/DSC09258.JPG

Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is native to large portion of the US, but it spreads by an underground root system... I keep my in a large container that is buried, if you like smelling flowers it smells NICE.

You can also grow milkweed vines which don't grow any taller than 10 feet if they grow straight up, species from the Funastrum genus that are native to the southwest US, or (Matelea decipiens) which is widespread throughout the central US, or Sand/Blue Vine (Cynanchum laeve) that is widespread from mid to eastern seaboard.

You can always buy seed, or ask others for seed ~ like yours truly.

I've compiled a list of milkweed species, so I could hyperlink references and notes seperated easily. It's not user friendly, but if you are looking for a particular species it is a good place to start. I try to keep hyperlinks for commercial sources of seed and plants. Most of the information concerns Asclepias species, which all species from this genus are host plants for the Monarch.
If there is information or hyperlinks you can add, let me know so I can include it.

Here is a link that might be useful: milkweed compilation of references

If you send me a SASE, I will send you LOTS of tropical milkweed seeds. They have been in my fridge for a while but surely a few would come up. E-mail me at nmann@texonlp.com, and I'll send you my address.

I am an Asclepias enthusiast too. I have successfully started 8 species from seed, most of them have been very easy to germinate and plant out. Try Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed) - easy to germinate, vigorous grower, will tolerate medium moisture even though it's a wetland plant, and the Monarchs love it!

The nice thing is, that you can attract Monarchs even it is your first year growing Milkweed. Female Monarchs will readily use tropical Milkweed (A. curassavica) which is grown as an annual in my zone. They will also use some of the perennial species the first year, even though the plants are generally small. The Monarch caterpillars seem to really like the tender young foliage of first and second year plants.

WOW! Thanks for all of the great replies everyone!

gardenspider - I posted my zone on this topic as DFW. I guess I assumed everyone knew that was Dallas/Fort Worth...lol. Thanks for the great info by the way!

brandon7 - I was at HD yesterday and didn't see a thing. Perhaps I'll call around to a few in the area since they don't all stock the same things. Were they in the perennials section?

nancy86 - If I don't find any this weekend, I'll get your email address and send you a SASE next week. Thanks for the great offer!

Well, I picked up my tropical milkweed and am a bit disappointed in how it looks. It's got three tall (around 1.5-2' stalks) with just a few leaves on the very top portions. I expected it to be full all the way down, so not many leaves for the monarchs. Hopefully I can find some of the swamp milkweed at HD to add to this bed.

By the way, I'm completely redoing this bed and could use some advice. Here is what I plan to plant:

Ends - One end has a huge deep pink butterfly bush, the other end has a potted duranta (on the edge of my patio).

Back - I plan to plant the milkweeds on one side and some summer phlox on the other (bought 2 of the John Fanick tonight). I also have one purple liatris that I'll put somewhere in the back or middle section.

Middle section - so far I have two verbena bonariensis, two purple cone flowers and one black-eyed susan (will center that one since it's the only non-pink/purple in this bed)

Front - deep pink (almost red) pentas and a few small other annuals to fill between.

I have a hard time deciding where to put everything because almost everything is small right now, and since I've never planted these, I don't really know how they grow. I know I can always move them around later if I need to.

Thanks again for all of the great advice!

tamgirl99:

I'm also a new native plants enthusiast & have found that the some of the best D/FW sources are plant sales by various gardens and plant groups. There are several chapters of the Native Plant Society of Texas (Garland, Collin County, Denton, Dallas, Fort Worth, etc), and several of them hold plant sales in the fall and spring. Also, the Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park held a butterfly plant sale in mid-May that was entirely comprised of butterfly larval/nectar plants.

Beyond that, your best bet is the nurseries that handle natives & organics such as:
Northaven (nhg.com) in Dallas
Rohde's (beorganic.com) in Garland
Redenta's (redentas.com) in Dallas
Weston Gardens in Arlington
my favorite Green Mama's in NRHills (greenmamas.com)

There are a few others in the area, but these are the ones I've been to or heard a lot about.

Also, the Texas Gardening Forum here on GW is pretty active, and there's usually a swap in the D/FW area in the spring and fall. Once they announce the swap, you can post your wish list and trade list & hope for a hit.

~ freshair

Here is a link that might be useful: Native Plant Society of Texas

To answer your posting title question, milkweed isn't terribly attractive on the nursery shelves. Unless you know its a butterfly attractant, it's not gonna pull you in.

A&M has a program called Texas Superstars that is desgined to promote the commercial success and individual use of plants that are native/adapted to Texas. One of their six criteria is that it has to "sell itself" off the shelves with its innate attractiveness. Milkweed doesn't really do that.

Off topic, have you considered lantana? "Dallas Red" is readily available here, the "truest" red developed among lantana, unbelievably hardy (its by my driveway in full sun and receives zero supplemental water), and quite popular in my yard.

~ freshair

Here is a link that might be useful: A&M's Texas Superstars plant program

I'm having a difficult time finding enough milkweed to stock our new BF garden too. I asked at one of our best garden centers and they said they had 'crop failure' of the tuberosa and they were sold out of A. incarnata (in the beginning of June). Two garden centers called their suppliers for me and they said they were also sold out of all kinds.

I think there has been a big 'bump' in the popularity of butterlfy gardening (the 'go green' movement) and these places have been caught off guard. And also the press has been covering butterfly gardening quite a bit of late (our paper has had a couple of different stories about BF gardening this spring) and of course the media always helps sales.

I wish the mainstream growers would start more asclepias. Some of the varieties are quite pretty and certainly have the 'fashionable' look of the 'prairie style' that is so popular in the mags.

I guess we just have to wait for them to catch up with us on the 'cutting edge'!

I was starting to think I just wasn't looking hard enough! I did call Redenta's in Arlington and found lots of Mexican/Butterfly weed so I got two good sized pots of that to go with my tropical one. Now I'm not 100% positive, but I'm pretty sure I had a monarch on my patio late yesterday! I opened the door to let my cat out and it took off. I tried to follow it but it went up through the slats in my arbor before I could get a closer look. It was definitely bigger than the gulf frits and a beautiful orange/black.

I got my bed completely planted so now I'm just waiting for things to start filling in a little more. I had some of the plants from the spring but the main attractors are just getting started. My duranta is already covered in bees though. :)

Freshair - Thanks for the tip on the lantana. I have a few but none of the red so I'll definitely check that one out!

> Well, I picked up my tropical milkweed and am a bit disappointed in how it looks. It's got three tall (around 1.5-2' stalks) with just a few leaves on the very top portions.

All milkweeds that I have experience with, but specifically ones from the (Asclepias) genus will drop leaves when stressed by lack of water, from the bottom up. Usually this starts with some browning on the edges of the leaves, and somehow the plant cuts the leaf off, it turns yellow, shrivels up and turns crumbly brown, drops off. It is most likely the supplier pulled off the leaves that didn't look so good, that the plant doesn't have as many leaves as you might have expected.

I was in Belize in January, a country that Tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) is native to. I had always wondered about the water requirements for the species as I never found any. Well, Belize is basically one big swamp, and in January (dry time) it is still swampy. I saw many Tropical milkweeds, all of which were in perfect condition (albeit the mowed ones)... but absolutely none of them had browning on any leaf or leaf nodes missing leaves ~ which my plants are scarred.

Upon returning home, I started to give my plants 1/2 inch of water a day even while overwintering inside. The leaf mass has greatly increased! On hot days like today I will be more generous, like 3/4 to an inch. Although I realize that potted plants generally need more water than those in the ground, these all have roots in the reservoir, and I used to think thought they should get by for as long as the reservoir is full.

Thanks for the tip gardenspider! I thought that was probably the problem. I'll see if the added water gives it a little boost. :)

Hey, tamgirl99 ~

I just read a blog entry on Redenta's website about insects that says our local crops of milkweed were hurt by last year's drought. They were discussing milkweed in terms of naturally existing supplies of the monarch's food source, but I suppose that would have hurt the commercial suply, as well.

~ freshair

Here is a link that might be useful: Redenta's blog entry on Milkweed