I picked these late last fall in Illinois. I think I have a couple dozen seeds. I would really like any heirloom vegetable seeds. Melons would be my first choice, but I'll take anything. Thanks!

Hi Brad, nix the moist paper towels. The seeds need to DRY, anything moist is a bad idea. When I harvest seed, I either put them in a little 5 oz dixie cup, or a paper lunch bag. Let dry for about 2-3 weeks in a dry well-ventilated place. Then I clean the seed and store in fridge. In my experience, Asclepias syriaca - common milkweed - is very slow to establish from seed. All of the tap-rooted perennial milkweeds that I've started from seed grow slowly and take at least 3 years to bloom, if the critters, insects, or fungus don't get it first.

Peggy, By any chance do you still have some of your seeds: Anise hyssop Wild Bergamot Common Milkweed Echinacea I've got to check my seeds to see what might be good for you. Xtal

Thank you all for the help. Flutterbug, I think you are right. I have been pulling it and the more I pull the more the sprouts keep coming up. I think I will try smothering it, as I had to do with another weed I had once. I'll also try the vinegar Susan, which I have tried in other situations with mixed results. I don't however, see how killing it with vinegar and pulling the sprouts would have a different result from each other. It would seem that killing or removing the sprouts may be an indicator to the root system to push out a new spurt of growth in a different direction. I didn't realize they would present this problem when I planted the other named varieties I have and hope that they won't become a problem. Brnegrrl....I am not quite sure how to interpret your statement that pulling milkweed makes you uncomfortable. I am guessing that you would like to see milkweed grow as much as possible to provide food for butterflies. Naturally, that was the reason I planted them in the first place. I just looked up the Asclepias incarnata and it is reported to be ..'a clump former that does not spread by runner like some of it's cousins.' I was out looking at the three Asclepias incarnata that I planted last year and they have come up in the same place on the same plant that went in the ground last year and have not spread or come up in a different location. The plant I am having trouble with is something that evidently came in on the wind or with a bird and hid out behind my hose reel until it was quite large last year and that is the one I am trying to get rid of. It must be the runner cousin. So I will keep the incarnata that clumps as I continue to get rid of the other. I had a ton of monarchs last year, which were all over my Butterfly Bush, which isnt even a native. Thanks... :-)