Hi Linda; I am not that far from you in the Dayton area. There are lots of milkweed to choose from. All have different properties. So you are wise in asking questions instead of putting any old thing in and regretting it later. I will give you the info I have on the "big four" that most people grow and we grow up here at the Butterfly house at Cox. I also have grown most of these in my yard. 1) Asclepias curassavica - a.k.a. tropical milkweed, scarlet milkweed, blood flower. For us, we consider it an annual. I have only had it reseed once during a very mild winter. It produces a lot of seeds and can be collected to replant every year. It is loved by monarchs and has a medium high cardiac glycoside (CGs) level (the chemical that makes monarchs distasteful). The levels are important for a variety of reasons. Too high, bad for caterpillars, too low, they are not protected from a variety of things, including parasitic wasps and flies. The only bad things this milkweed is that it is an annual, so you have to replant it. Also in some parts of the country, mainly Florida, it does induce some migrating monarchs to stop migration and start reproducing. Comes in a yellow flower form as well. 2) Asclepias syriaca - A.K.A common or field milkweed. This is the McDonalds of the milkweed world. It has medium levels of CGs. The pros; It has large profuse blooms that attract all kinds of pollinators. The fragrance is unbelievable at times. Monarchs use it fairly well. Comes up pretty reliably year to year. The cons; it is a beast in the home garden, meaning that it can easily take over your yard, your neighbor's yard, etc, through "runners". The sap is profuse if a leaf or stem is broken and some people are very allergic to the sap(as it has tons of latex). Not the best monarch host plant due to the sap (young caterpillars can die from it easily). 3) Asclepias incarnata - a.k.a. swamp milkweed, ice ballet, rose milkweed. Medium to low CGs. Pros: Favorite of monarchs. They will use this one over a lot of the others. Pretty pink blooms. attracts a lot of pollinators. Fairly reliable (some people have trouble getting it to return year to year). Reseeds reliably and does not form "runners". There are not too many seedlings and I can transplant them. Cons; prefers moist soils. If you grow it in full sun, in clay, you need to keep it watered. I have it in high organic soils in partial shade and it does well without me watering it. It can get a little funky as the plant ages. It may truly be a long lived perennial. meaning it really only comes back 2 - 4 years. I am watching that in my garden. Milkweed aphids seem to really like this one. 4) Asclepias tuberosa- A.K.A butterfly weed, shorter milkweed up to 24 inches. Medium CGs Pros; good color, prefers drier sites. great nectar plant. Cons; does not do well in wet soils ( I have lost many to wet winters and springs). Because it is a dry prairie plant, the leaves do not contain as much moisture as other milkweeds. Caterpillars have to consume twice as much leaf material as on other milkweeds to grow the same amount. That is one reason mom will lay her eggs preferentially on other plants. Some of the others we have used are A. physocarpa (similar properties to A. curassavica), A. verticillata, A. purpurascens, A. viridis. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.

Hi Folks, Please check out the White Milkweed, 2016 thread on the Milkweed Forum for new 2016 seed availability on this species recently posted.

> I plant 3 to 4 of the same species near each other Sounds like a good idea. And yes once had only a single container A. curassavica outdoors in summer with no others in sight. And it did develop seed pods. So I assumed there is no self-incompatibility. > Photo please? Could the very small yellowish "points" seen below each vertex of the central pentagon in the open flower be pollinia showing from the embedded pollinarium?

Would love to trade for your zinnia; here's my list - Doreen. Flowers Ballonflower – blue Beebalm – Violet queen Chinese houses [collinsia heterophylla] Columbine – red [canadensis] Cosmos – orange English daisy Hibiscus [hardy] – Luna pink/Luna white/cherry red Hosta – yellow edge [lg.] Love lies bleeding Marigold – short mix Milkwood - pink Million gold Obedient plant - pink Pepper, Ornamental [hot - capsicum annum] Phlox [hardy] – white,pink & lavender mix w/ bicolors Rudbeckia - Autumn Sun [r.herbstonne] Rudbeckia triloba [prairie coneflower] Sunflower – Italian white/Multi-brown & yellow Vegetables & herbs Broccoli – Calabrese branching Catnip Chicory – Blue southishe Dill Lettuce – Buttercrunch Peas – Sugar snap/Little marvel Pepper , bell – yellow/orange Pumpkin – Jack O'Lantern Radish – early Scarlet globe Thyme Tomato [heirloom] – Black Krim/Solar Flare/Hillbilly/Carbon/Red Zebra/Purple splash/Mortgage lifter/Cherokee purple/Black Brandywine/Yellow cherry/Beauty king/Paul Robeson/Striped German Turnip – Purple top white globe Vines Morning glory - mix [includes Milky Way, Grandpa Ott, ivy-leaf blue, Crimson rambler and various others] /Grandpa Ott/Orange Noah Pea vine – white butterfly Trumpet vine – orange/red Trees/Shrubs Hydrangea - white [Annabelle] Rose of Sharon – single pink w/dark eye