No, I never saw the pupa/chrysalis stage. I'm thinking right after that July heat wave followed by the sudden cold in August made them stay inside the pupa until the weather is nice, maybe they'll surprise me yet. Most birds will avoid Monarch, one bite and they will remember for next time. But yes, I've read that wasps and spiders will eat the larva, I have alot of those in the garden, so it could be. You bet, I'm going to plant tons of seed for next year if thats what it takes ;) (still haven't managed to get a photo of the Red Admiral thou! LOL) Sharon

Sorry, I never found Asclepias rubra. If only! But I have located a seller of Asclepias quadrifolia in New York state, and have exchanged emails with the nursery owner. So, that is to say, I have given up on rubra and have plans for quadrifolia, but in the future I will definitely be able to trade seeds fro quadrifolia. What milkweed species do you grow currently? And, I am not sure if this is too specific a question, but do you know anything about rare asclepias syriaca varients (such as white common milkweed)? I am very interested in them and can trade or pay.

They were milkweed seedlings under the big light. I lost 1 humistrata and 1 purple. The fascicularis bounced back. Some of the cells have pro mix, mixed with sand, for the milkweeds that like sand, like humistrata, arenaria, subverticillata, and onotheroides. Those cells dry out even faster. I was hoping I could bottom water the trays, but it's not working out. Some cells won't hydrate, and they all get too drenched, leading to fungus problems. I had gotten a little package of super concentrated biofungicide from Thailand after months of waiting, and I put it somewhere for safekeeping, and now it's lost lol. I ordered more biofungicide from the states. I can't wait months for it. So, I will just have to spray water all the cells twice a day. This is the count of all the seedlings that are up with cotyledons. asperula,4, purple, 9, cordifolia, 2, arenaria, 6, variegata, 2, speciosa, 2. subverticillata, 2, humistrata, 4, variegata, 2, oenotheroides,2, ovalifolia,13, oenotheroides,2, fascicularis, 3., and viridiflora,3.There are several cells that have no sign of life. All seeds were sown in the cells after the roots appeared. I had really bad germination with the variegata and purple. I wish I had more seeds of both. I'm soaking more seeds for oenotheroides, fascicularis, asperula, viridiflora, subverticillata, and speciosa, since there are only a few of each that germinated.

Ice Ballet has been around a long time. I had a plant years ago and it did great, until it got tugged out. Maybe yours are having a harder than normal time adjusting. I was planning on having more this year, but the seeds that were winter sowed never germinated. Seems like A. incarnatas are more finicky and problematic than any of the other native milkweeds. I'm trying out a new incarnata variation for next year. Asclepias incarnata var. pulchra. It's beautiful and it has more cardioglycoids than regular incarnata, so it probably won't be ruined by the aphids like straight species incarnatas.