steveberry,

Milkweed is a slow starter from seed, if you have existing plants, it is much easier to start these from cuttings. I found out quite by accident that the stems will form roots if left in water long enough: I had cut some stems for feeding and the cat pupated on the leaf vein. While I waited for the pupa to get hard enough to move, roots began to form on the cutting. I have started lots of new milkweed plants from cuttings.

Seed is much cheaper, if you have the patience and the knowledge of which plants it is better to purchase as bedding plants. I have not had luck with parsley seeds, but lots of luck with fennel and dill. Bee balm has not succeeded from seed either. I have found it is mostly trial and error. The first 3 years I grew Mexican Sunflowers from seed, I had WONDERFUL success, but this year, they just didn't do well for me. So, the degree of success may depend upon the seeds. (Oddly enough the first 3 years, I purchased cheap seeds-.25/pkg, this year I bought top of the line brand-1.79/pkg!)

There is a wonderful wildseed farm that you can order seeds from here in Tx, google Wildseed Farms (they are in Fredericksburg, TX). Wildseeds grow best when broadcast over the ground and then lightly stepped on (do not cover with dirt, they need light to germinate).

Best of luck to you!

Mechelle

Another thing you might like to try is winter sowing. I have used this method for growing a lot of plants successfully from seed, including 3 varieties of Asclepias, nearly 100 Buddleias (many were given away to friends and family or sold at a plant sale I hold in the spring), Dill, Helenium, Salvias, Artemisia Stellariana, etc.

I'll post a link to the forum so you can go and check it out. No need to buy containers. Just use whatever containers you have to create a controlled environment outside for your seed to germinate. Just to give you an example, the following Buddleia was started from seed last year and was visited by many Monarchs, Mourning Cloaks, and Painted Ladies once in bloom this year. You can actually see a Monarch on the left.

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Here is a photo of Sweet Williams with Artemisia Stellariana (Both winter sown) with a Red Admiral.

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It is a great way of starting plants for your gardens and for the butterflies. Hope you try it!!

PS... Mechelle - Thanks for the tip on rooting Asclepias from stem cuttings. I'll definitely have to try that next year. :O)

Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Sowing Forum

I've had success starting the following from seed indoors:

Dill
Parsley
Fennel
Butterfly Weed
Swamp Milkweed
Zinnias
Cosmos

and spring sowing:

Zinnias
Cosmos
Swamp Milkweed -- a bit
Lupines

and self-seeding from plants (which is basically winter sowing):

Dill
Butterfly Weed

But other plants I've had to get starters in quart pots:

Monarda
Coreopsis
Salvia

Starting seed indoors might work well for you. Basically, get some peat pots, wet down some potting soil and put into the pots, and put two seeds in each pot.

Then put the pots inside a tray with a clear lid (can be gotten at Ace or other places), and keep an eye on the moisture level. You should be able to get seedlings that can be put directly into the ground, pot and all. The peat pots and tray are both cheap.

Hope that helps,
Jeff

Steve,

I never thought to mention that the milkweed will start easily from cuttings until after you had left. Please feel free to take cuttings from anything I have in the garden anytime you are free to do so. I figure the more of us who are providing for these little guys the better for us all.

By the way, I think I saw my first white admiral or lorquins admiral in my life this summer and it looked like the butterfly in the picture above. It is definitely not a red admiral.

Also, the purple flower in the yard is Trachelium caeruleum. If the seeds don't germinate I have it growing in a place where I will have to move it because it is not getting enough sun where I planted it. You can definitely take some of that as well. It is a larger patch.

Hope the garden goes well. I am already waiting for the next season and plan to do some winter sowing on the strip along side my house. It was great meeting you. Joe

Re: making cuttings and getting them to root--

Besides cuttings from others, I have some of my own A. tuberosa (yellow flowers) which I'd like to propagate. I had already planned on spreading the seed, but now I'm understanding I can do it from cuttings as well.

How big of a cutting do I need? My basic idea is this-- Can I take, for example, one 3' long stalk, cut it up in to a few (2-4) sections and have them all root?? Or do you sort of seem to need the apex of the cut stem to keep the cutting growing as it roots in the water? I've only got about 3 plants, and I have a big back yard, and would like to stretch them as far as possible for next year. Is this a good idea? Or do I need to be more conservative and only root one "cutting" per stalk cut??

I have rooted other plants by taking one stalk and cutting it up into several pieces and it worked fine so I don't see why it wouldn't work the same way for the milkweed as well. Try and see what happens. Where did you get the tuberosa from? I have never seen it available in any of the local nurseries, except in dry root form at Mid-City. I haven't been successful in growing the plants because for some reason they didn't thrive and just kind of "hung on" so to speak. I also read somewhere that it was a non-toxic form of milkweed that didn't give the caterpillars and adult monarchs the protection from birds that the other milkweed varieties do. Perhaps someone else can confirm this. Joe

I had lots of success starting most of these plants from seed using the winter-sowing method. That included 6 species of Asclepias, Dill, Fennel, Parsley, and 4 species of Monarda. I found Monarda was very easy to start from seed. The Monarda citriodora (Lemon bee balm) and M. punctata (Horsemint) both bloomed prolifically this year.

Direct sowing would probably work, but usually germination is much sketchier and it helps to recognize the seedlings so you don't weed them out and can keep them watered.

Here's a picture - Monarda punctata in the foreground, Monarda citriodora in the middle, and in the background you can see the Dill that is still blooming. Also some Rudbeckia - all were winter-sown.
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I see the other Winter Sowing people have beat me here, but I would suggest Winter Sowing. It's a wonderful method for starting seeds.

Lisa

I generally take a cutting of milkweed that is about 3" long and place it in water and change the water when it gets cloudy. Not all cuttings will make new plants, it will shrivel and dry up. Most do start making leaves, though. I have had some problems with the aphids getting to my "new" plants before they are ready to put into the dirt. I do not know where they come from, but they find the milkweed anyway. Once the roots have appeared, use rooting hormone powder (according to package directions) and plant in good potting soil. Good luck.

Mechelle

I went over to the winter sowing forum, which was interesting. They're definitely working on planting in pots and going from there. It seems like it works, and I think I'm going to try it some to sort of hedge my bets.

However, the more I've thought about it, the more I've recognized that I also have a 9 month old, and the likelihood that I'm going to get the time to really go and plant all this is unlikely. Thus, I'm thinking broadcasting seed is what I'm going to try. Obviously, some of you have had very little success with this method, and yet others have had great success, and rarely seem to actually plant stuff.

Still, just to make sure-- for those who have had success broadcasting seed-- stuff like fennel, and dill, echinacea, verbena, milkweed seem to be good options? Whereas stuff like mondara and many others would be best to winter sow in containers.