byrdlady, it's so good to hear this! where i grew up in western PA therew were syriaca grwing everywhere roadside, with nearly every patch having monarch colonies. now the milkweed is less common, because of more mowing, and monarchs are much less common, even up there. i've been trying to get syriaca going here, too. i have some nice patches of tuberosum after working on it for 8 or 9 yrs, and have grown currasvica from seed before. recently got some otherr ones (don't recall off the top), and just this yr, noticed 3 cats on my tuberosum. so maybe it does take a while for them to come. ralph gave me some potted currasavica, which i hope to overwinter in the cool basement, and some cats, too. hoping they'll come back in spring and lay eggs. the last one is making a chrysalis now. your expeience heartens me that i wasn't doing anything wrong. tammy

One of the most beautiful milkweeds that I have seen is the tall green milkweed (aslepias hirtella). This beauty was in a wet prairie along the WI River in Avoca WI: I have lots of aslepias syrica growing in my yard and a couple weeks ago the scent was so strong, it filled the yard and was lovely. And the bumbles and butterflies were bustling about. One of the universities around here was doing pilot studies growing milkweed as an agricultural crop to use the fluff in various commercial applications. I went to a presentation on it a few years ago. One of the interesting things about the agricultural application is the limiting factor on them was pollinators. They would have to limit the field size because there wouldn't be enough pollinators for an entire 40 acre field.

I'm the propagator at a native plant nursery, so growing milkweeds is part of my job. But I will say that prior to my arrival at the company they grew three species only -- tuberosa, of course, plus incarnata and verticillata. I confess I do love milkweeds, so my interest has perhaps expanded their offerings a wee bit. Syriaca is certainly invasive, so I only spec it into designs where that characteristic is a desirable one -- prairie restorations, butterfly meadows and so forth. Not a plant for the garden bed, in my opinion. It also gets very tall around here; eight feet is not unusual if moisture is decent. I haven't had much trouble with overenthusiastic spreading from any other types. Easiest to grow is incarnata, in my experience, which is probably why it's pretty generally available. It also seems to be the #1 favorite species with Monarchs as a larval food -- they'll defoliate a clump and leave another Asclepias species nearby pretty much alone. My favorites are viridis, purpurescens and variegata. Each is showy in its own way, with good across-the-yard garden impact, and I do like showy plants. :) I find the elaborate floral structure of all Asclepias pretty wonderful, actually. It's a genus worth getting up close and personal with. Here on the Western Highland Rim I find variegata, purpurescens, syriaca and quadrifolia. In the cedar glades of the Central Basin I get viridis, viridiflora and verticillata. On the Plateau I get exaltata. Tuberosa and incarnata are in all locales I typically scout. Marty

BUTTERFLY: Danaidae Danaus plexippus USA (Monarch, milkweed butterfly, wanderer, black-veined brown) HOSTPLANTS: Apocynaceae (Dogbane) Apocynum androsaemifolium Cosmopolitan ([creeping, flytrap, spreading]dogbane; Indian hemp, bitter root) Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed) Araujia sericifera Nearctic (white bladderflower, cruel vine, cruel plant, bladder vine) Asclepias amplexicaulis USA ([blunt-leaved, bluntleaf, sand, clasping]milkweed) A. asperula USA (antelope-horns, [green-flowered, antelope horn, spider]milkweed) A. californica USA ([California, Sierra]milkweed) A. cancellata Nearctic (wild cotton) A. cordifolia USA ([purple, heartleaf]milkweed) A. curassavica USA {syn: A. nivea, A. bicolor} ([annual, scarlet, tropical, Caribbean]milkweed; bloodflower, butterfly-weed, silkweed, cotton bush, pleurisy root, red top, redhead, sunset flower, cancerillo, ipecacuanha, koningsbloem, Indian root) A. curtissii USA ([Curtiss's, sandhill, scrub]milkweed) A. eriocarpa USA ([Monarch, Indian, butterfly, woollypod, woolly]milkweed) A. erosa USA (desert milkweed) A. exaltata USA {syn: A. phytolaccoides} ([poke, poke-leaved, tall]milkweed) A. fascicularis USA {syn: A. mexicana} ([narrowleaf, narrow-leaved, Mexican whorled, Mexican]milkweed) A. hirtella USA ([tall green, prairie, green, Barrens]milkweed) A. humistrata USA ([sandhill, pinewoods, purple, scarlet]milkweed) A. incarnata USA ([swamp, rose]milkweed) A. lanceolata USA ([red, fewflower, smooth orange, pineland, lanceleaf, lanceolate, few-flowered]milkweed; purple silkweed) A. latifolia TX (broad-leaf milkweed) A. longifolia USA ([longleaf, Florida]milkweed) A. obovata USA ([pineland, green]milkweed) A. oenotheroides USA ([zizotes, Texas, longhorn]milkweed) A. perennis FL ([white swamp, aquatic]milkweed) A. physocarpa Cosmopolitan (goose plant, balloon plant, balloon cotton bush, balloon cotton, swan plant, pod milkweed) A. purpurascens USA (purple milkweed) A. rubra USA (red milkweed) A. speciosa USA (showy milkweed) A. subulata Cosmopolitan ([desert, rush]milkweed; candelilla) A. subverticillata Cosmopolitan {syn: A. galioides} ([Western whorled, horsetail, poison, bedstraw]milkweed; Navajo Name: Ch'il'abe's'óóz) A. sullivantii USA ([prairie, Sullivant's, smooth]milkweed) A. syriaca USA {syn: A. cornuti}(common milkweed, silkweed, wild cotton flower, wild cotton) A. tomentosa USA ([velvetleaf, hairy, tuba, sandhills, velvet]milkweed) A. tuberosa USA (butterfly[weed, plant, bush];[pleurisy, wind, white, Canada, orange, tuber, flux]root; chigger[plant, flower];[butterfly, Rolf's, orange, yellow]milkweed; Indian paintbrush, Indian-posy, swallowwart, orange swallowwort, Southern butterfly weed) A. variegata USA ([white, redring, green-flowered, variegated]milkweed) A. verticillata USA ([whorled-leaf, whorled, linear-leaved, whorled white, eastern whorled]milkweed) A. vestita USA ([woolly, Parish's woolly]milkweed) A. viridiflora USA {syn: A. obovata}([green comet, green, short green, green-flowered, wand]milkweed) A. viridis USA ([green, oblong-leaved, spider, green antelopehorn, green-flowered, antelope horn]milkweed) Calotropis gigantea Cosmopolitan (giant milkweed) C. procera Nearctic (calotropis, rubber bush, apple of Sodom, mudar, madar, king's crown, roostertree) Cynanchum angustifolium USA (Gulf Coast swallowwart, milkweed vine) C. laeve Nearctic {syn: Gonolobus laevis, C. sinaloense, Ampelamus albidus} ([sand, blue, honey]vine; [honeyvine, climbing]milkweed; angle pod, vine milkweed) Gomphocarpus fruticosus Nearctic {syn: Asclepias fruticosa, A. arborescens, G. fruticosus} (narrow leaf cotton bush, Irish ballon, swan plant, balloon-cotton, Cape-cotton, duck bush, bristle-fruited silkweed, balloon weed, white swan milkweed) Marsdenia Spp. Nearctic {example species, descriptions follow} (M. cundurango (Cotton root); M. zimapanica(Mex), large climbers, latex sap) Matelea reticulata USA ([pearl, net-vein, netted]milkvine; milkvine, pearl milkweed, green milkweed vine) Morrenia odorata FL ([strangler, milkweed]vine; tasi, Florida milkweed vine, latex plant) Sarcostemma clausum USA (white twinevine, white milkweed vine, viney milkweed, whitevine, narrow-leaf milkweed vine) S. crispum TX (wavy-leaf milkweed vine, wavyleaf twinevine, wavyleaf climbing milkweed, wavyleaf milkvine) Convolvulaceae (morning glory) Ipomoea Spp. Nearctic Malvaceae (Mallow) Gossypium arboreum Nearctic {available in TX}(cotton tree, tree cotton, devkapas) Rutaceae (Citrus) Citrus Spp. Nearctic Sapotaceae (Sapodilla) Manilkara grandiflora Nearctic ( ? possibly M. zapota)