Boy, you said it, Jeff! It pays to have a lot of different kinds. My cooler species like A. incarnata, speciosa, and hopefully next year, purpurescens and viridis, will carry me thru up to July. By then, the Tropical, Oscar, and Giant will take over the burden. I also have Cynanchum laeve, and don't know what I would have done without it this year. It can be a bully, but I have learned to cope with it.

I grew my other milkweeds from seed purchased at Prairie Moon. Due to the extended heat wave this summer, my seedlings suffered. But some that I thought had met their demise, are now being revived by the cooler temps. So, all is not lost. I found a Monarch cat on a little tiny A. speciosa today! Geez.....there is bigger milkweed in the garden, can't they see it?

Oh, I had really good luck wintersowing this year, and also got seed from Everwilde Farm, which turned out to be very good, viable seed as well. I grow from seed because sometimes it can be difficult to find the plants.

Susan

Susan, I would love to get some seeds of the Cynanchum laeve...where did you get them? I have some Asclepias oenotheroides, side cluster milkweed seeds that I could trade you...it is a native to Texas & Oklahoma. I dug up plants in a field & gathered seeds as well last month.
I currently have tropical, common, antelope horn, & Big Balls...what is Oscar?
Do you get queens where you are...they were all over the side-cluster when I dug it up...you have to dig deep to get it & antelope horns...they have really deep tap roots!

I wish I could, and maybe someone else here has some seeds of the CL. Between the milkweed leaf beetles, the Monarchs, and the sphinx caterpillars, I had no seeds develop at all. They will come back from the roots next year, but no reseeding, which could be a blessing in disguise because it does get rather rambunctious in my garden.

I think we discussed this on another thread; the lack of seed this year for many of us. I had no seed of A. curassavica, A. physocarpus (also known as Oscar, Family Jewels, etc,), or any other milkweed for that matter.

I would love to send you some, and if I do find I've overlooked seed pods in the garden, I'll be sure to let you know. I think other people on the forum may have some seed if you make an inquiry.

I do get Queens, but haven't seen any this year, unfortunately.

Susan

Just thought I'd jump in here and support your observation, Jeff.

The Monarchs have not been picky about which plants to adorn with eggs. I have found caterpillars on the Purpurascens, Variegata, Oscar (I have seed pods forming), Incarnata, Tuberosa, Sullivan's, Tropical, and ? plants I grew from seeds I harvested in Kentucky. I haven't found any caterpillars on the Honeyvine, but I've used it to feed caterpillars.

Currently, the Tropical is stripped bare. The Oscar is putting on lush new growth, and I'm relying on it to feed any caterpillars I bring in.

Next year, I hope to add some more varieties to the garden, and more plants of the species I already have. I moved one of the Variegata plants that wasn't doing well where I had it, and it has sprouted new stems. Now there are two variegatas within close proximity--hoping for cross pollination!

I have 3 Giant Milkweed plants I'll overwinter in the garage so they don't freeze. A friend has told me I could use her greenhouse over the winter. She has it heated and a watering system. I may take her up on her offer. Next year's project--setting up a permanent green house--can't wait. The portable one I used last winter had some issues. The plants did great, but I didn't do so well.

I want to put in a plug for A purpurascens. This has been a great milkweed to grow in the garden. It doesn't get overly tall, but the leaves are very substantial. It has formed a colony of plants, but hasn't taken over the bed. The flowers are beautiful. I love this plant!

sandy

Sandy, where did you get your A.pupurascens? I am wanting to add more varieties especially perennials. I have a couple of "Oscars" or swan milkweeds I got from the Dallas plant sale at Texas Discovery Gardens. They haven't gotten very big & haven't had any flowers this year. I bought them last fall & planted them then.
I have tried to start swamp milkweed from seed but haven't had any luck with it.

I got my first plant from Seneca Hills Nursery. But, she is no longer selling plants. Last year, I had great success starting seeds and ended up with several plants. If you follow the instructions for stratifying and growing Asclepias on Butterfly Encounters website, you will have good luck. You can also purchase Milkweed seeds from them.

I got my seeds from Prairie Moon, but they are out. Everwilde has 30 seeds for 2.50, which is the best price I've found other than PM. I am stratifying my seeds this fall, so they will be ready to plant early next year. This will allow them to get good growth before it's time to put them out.

Use the same technique for your Swamp milkweed seeds. Essentially you are using sand and a very small amount of water for your stratification medium. After the period of cold required--usually about 3 months--I put the seeds (still in the plastic bag/sand) in a warm place until they germinate. Then I use tweezers to carefully plant them in a seed starting soil mix until they grow regular leaves. After they are several inches tall and have leafed out, I transplant them into a growth mix. From there, it's into the ground.

Or you can skip all the above and winter sow the seeds. The Winter Sowing forum has all the information on how to do this.

HTH,

Sandy

This was the first year I didn't purchase or start any tropical. I was kicking myself earlier in the season, but low & behold, a few reseeders popped up and are currently blooming. Granted, the aphids are having a field day on them, but those late starters are always cheery, especially since the perennial varieties are beginning dormancy. Having said that, most of my milkweeds still look pretty good. I have a bunch of swamp & common that are looking lovely, yet some have begun dying off.

As for monarch eggs, in the past they've preferred the swamp over the common. This year, it was the common that was preferred. I had weeded out the common quite a bit because it popped up everywhere. I can only assume it reseeded from elsewhere, since I never let mine produce pods. Much easier to control over the swamp in that area, lol. I wonder how many more eggs I may have found had I left those common's up. On the swamp, they've never generally overlaid eggs, but on the common, one lady (or two) went beserk and left 12 eggs on one 2' plant, with 2 or 3 eggs per leaf. I found this strange.

I've had excellent germination winter sowing all varieties of milkweed, tropical included.

As you can probably tell, I'm fairly new at BF gardening & raising cats...this is only my 3rd season to do it & I am learning a ton...with much more to learn, it appears!
I've tried to wintersow here in North Texas two winters in a row but with our crazy temp fluctuations...from 80 to 15 degrees...they don't do well. It gets warm then, suddenly cold. I did cold strarify some common seeds last winter with much better results. I will try the swamp again but follow your instructions for starting them this year, Sandy. I used perlite & didn't wait to sprout them before planting. Where do you get your sand...is it a special kind or just plain?
I planted several common plants out in full sun & they have all disappeared because of our hot summer...will they come back in the spring from the root here like the antelope horns do?
Thanks for all y'all's advice!
I have lots of tropical right now that is in full bloom...even a few yellow ones. I am trying to germinate the seeds by using a tiny paintbrush that I rub the flowers with to see if I can get any more pods before it gets too cool. I have done this technique with a lot of other flowers in my yard & it works. I only have 2 pods growing so far out of 4 dozen plus plants before I started this technique last week...we'll see if it works for the milkweed!???
Unless I get more eggs, my cats are all in crysalid form right now.

Imabirdnut,

All of us started out as newbies! Your Common MW will most likely come back next year. I have a volunteer milkweed that was here when we moved in--don't know the kind--that has been mowed down so many times I thought it was a goner. But I noticed the other day that it is coming back! Last year it didn't come up at all, and it is just now popping through this year. So, with the root systems on MW, you just never know.

Winter sowing is great, but I need to control when the seeds will come up as I sell plants at the local Farmer's Market. As to type of sand, you can use the playground sand or purchase it in smaller bags for cactus, both available at Lowes. I have much better luck with sand than with perlite. You don't need but about a fourth to a half cup for each type of seed. I put the sand in a small baggy, add the seeds, and add about an eighth to a fourth teaspoon of water--just enough to moisten the sand so it will stick together when you squeeze it and separate a bit when you shake the bag. Write date and type of seed on the outside of the baggy. I store the small baggies with similar seeds requiring the same period of cold in big baggies. I may end up with several bags of small baggies labeled with the stratification time. You can stratify longer than required, but shortening time usually keeps seeds from germinating. I actually have some seeds that have been in cold storage for almost a year.

Once you remove the baggies from the fridge, leave them at room temp and check daily for germination. It usually happens within a few days. Then just follow the rest of the procedure I outlined above for planting.

Sandy

imabirdnut, I agree with the above mentioned method of preparing to plant milkweed. Instead of winter sowing in a milk jug (since you have many temp fluctuations), I would put the seeds in the frig for two months (count back two months from the time you'd actually want to plant them outside). Use the method Sandy mentioned and your seeds should do great for you. I used that method already and the seeds sprouted with two or three days. Plant them immediately after you see the germination or they will soon dry out and be no good.
Cathy

Thanks for all the advice...will do this winter! Look forward to growing a more diverse host garden!
I am wanting to collect as many host plants as I can get that will survive our heat!
I am wondering if the swamp milkweed works well in semi-shade or does it need full sun? I have a bed that gets a lot of water & can be rather boggy.
I am looking forward to seeing the monarch migration soon. I had a ton of Queens this past month as well as quite a few monarchs so far. I think my peak migration happens in a couple of weeks!

Unless you have a large healthy patch of a single species, it definitely helps to grow several species of milkweed. I had nice little patches of A. incarnata (swamp) and A. curassavica (tropical) but they weren't enough when I had to feed a lot of 5th instar cats. Then I used the large leaves of A. syriaca - common milkweed. When that ran out, ended up collecting leaves from a couple wild patches of common milkweed to help supplement.

I tried using the A. tuberosa (butterfly weed) but we had a droughty summer and leaves were apparently tough and unpalatable. I tried the A. verticillata (whorled?) too, but that has very thin, bushy leaves, and the big cats can't seem to get a good footing on the foliage. This year I also winter-sowed A. purpurascens, A. exaltata, A speciosa, and A. variegata, but those are just small seedlings and seem to be slow-growing species. On the other hand, the A. incarnata seedlings grew to 1-1.5 feet high and provided good foliage in the 1st year.

The Monarch females liked variety too - they laid the most eggs on the A. curassavica, next the A. incarnata, and a few on small plants of A. syriaca.

If you are ever wanting to apply to become a Monarch Waystation, they recommend having at least three kinds of milkweed. My garden is a Monarch Waystation and has been for about 4 years.

This year, I helped two teachers plant a garden at their school that met the Monarch Waystation requirements. The school garden has been a success--providing hundreds of caterpillars for the students to raise in the classroom. We concentrated on planting lots of A curassavica, A incarnata, and A physocarpa. These were plants I had grown from seed. We planted everything this past spring.

Monarch Watch has a great planting list set up as a check list that can be printed off.

sandy

Sandy, wondering if your Monarchs layed eggs on, or were fed, the Giant Milkweed and whether or not they liked it as well as the other species.

I went to McKenna's school Monday afternoon to give a talk on Monarch butterflies to the 3rd grade class. I had caterpillars and books to take with me. Also took a couple of Tobacco Hornworms - the boys really like them! Anyway, I went outside with Kenna to the playground and asked the kids to show me where they found their milkweed. They had Cynanchum laeve growing all over the fences there, and they were finding Monarchs on it.

I am just going to grow the Calatropis gigantea from seed again, doing a spring "winter" sowing since they are tropical. They did much better for me once I put them in the ground, than they did in pots. Are you growing yours in pots, Sandy? I don't really have any place to overwinter them indoors anyway, and they grew to about 4' in the ground, blooming as well. I have 2 big 5th instar cats on them outside right now, but have been feeding my cats in cages the leaves because it stays so well - no need to put stems in water or anything - they will keep up to 2 days if the cats don't eat them all. It does seem to fill them up quicker than the other milkweeds.

Susan