How did I get bumped to the bottom of the page in just one day? Whew! You gotta be quick around here, huh?

So, no one has any ideas?

Susan

Hi Susan, How different are the zones from your area to my area of 7b/8a DFW Texas? The reason I am asking is because last year I started some swan milkweed from seeds. By winter they were about 3 1/2 ft tall. Those things stayed green all winter. They only looked slightly bitten when the temps dropped into the teens. This year they are about 6 ft and very bushy. Lots of monarch cats. Now they have only gone thru one winter so I don't know for sure if that will be the standard or not, but I have definetly started more seed.
If you haven't tried the swan milkweed and would like to I will be having seed very shortly. Lots of seed.
I also have some curasvica"spelling?) growing in pots that I move inside for the winter. Althought they don't grow quite as large as the one's in the ground they do quite well and I have some already up when the first monarchs come thru.

Hope

That's the kind of info I'm looking for, Hope, and thanks! I'd love to try some seed of Swan Milkweed. Let me check it out to make sure it is hardy here. I think if I recall correctly, that it is.

Susan

How about butterfly weed. Mine has been blooming for a month.

Susan, my answer may not be what you are looking for, but this spring, it was dry when the 1st milkweed started coming up. Whichever ones that I watered 1st were the 1st ones to come up. This spring, it was the Showy and Swamp mw., as I watered them well first. When I water the A. viridis and A. perrenis, they started coming up as well. The native milkweeds in my garden came up sooner than the ones in the pastures and ditches in my area. It was around March 25th, before the hard freeze that we had, and before the rains started.

Hope that helps. :)

I wrote A. perrenis, and I don't even have that one in my yard? I meant A. asperula.

Thanks everyone - I really appreciate your input. Linda, I have A. incarnata and syriaca planted from the winter sowing I did. I had two A. asperulas, but one got killed off when the mower topped them - it just didn't recover.

Unfortunately, I don't have A. speciosa. I'll try to get some seed this year and plant some of it. I decided not to plant the A. verticillatas I had. The one I got last year didn't recover from the winter we had (I'm guessing), plus they don't have enough foliage to really sustain that many cats. I would have to have a field of it.

I will rely on the incarnata. I may have some viridis as well - as you know I lost my tags on the winter sowing. I had lots of flats of milkweed, though, so there is probably some I planted.

By Butterfly Weed, I'm assuming you mean A. tuberosa, Brer, the orange flowering one? I've tried growing that and it just doesn't do well for me. Also, it doesn't host the Monarchs here in Oklahoma anyway. If I ever find a nice plant of one, I may try it again, just to see if I can do it.

Susan

Susan! My a tuberosa does wonderfully and I find cats on it all the time. It also reseeds and I find little plants growing around. I'll try to send you some of my seed. It is so pretty and mine bloomed in May this year and keeps reblooming when I remove the seed pods. I actually "transplanted" my original plant, which I grew from seed, from my old garden 3 years ago. I know that's not supposed to work, but it did.

In fact, I'm going to dig up one of the little babies for you and bring it to you. I'll be in OKC this Saturday, tell me how to get to your house. Mail me at butterflymombixby@yahoo.com.

Sandy

I think I've heard about A. viridis in late spring, but I know I've seen A. variegata in bloom early may.

Susan,

I was finding viridis pretty early in the pasture. Here is a thread from April 1st this year. These were established plants coming back from the roots.

I didn't start seeing seedlings for another few weeks.

randy

Here is a link that might be useful: Another Thread