Mary, A fascicularis grows around me wild in Reno NV. Full sun, dry soil. Super dry conditions once established. I found a few growing in my yard last year. Presumably from seed I misplaced. They tolerated part shade. Irrigation contributed to prolific growth. Use water sparingly. I also purchased two plants. The transplants didn't do well. They may have died in the heat before the roots became established.

I second what Brad Grimm wrote. Keep them dry. Besides A. curassavica, A. fascicularis is one of the more attractive to Monarchs milkweeds I have in my SoCal garden.

Brad, when you say water contributed to prolific growth, do you mean too much growth to detriment of blooms or too much growth as in spreading plants?

My thanks, Mary

Mary, the root spread is not much concern with this one. Seeds blowing in the wind will populate a big area around the plant long before root spread gets very far. The watering allowed the plant to support more stems and leaves than a comparable plant that wasn't watered in the same area. I didn't get blooms. Only grew it one year at a rental property. I didn't expect blooms in the first year so I don't know if blooms were limited because of watering or because of immaturity. www.growmilkweedplants.com/milkweed-madness for an opportunity to win 500+ butterfly weed seeds in April.

Thank you, Brad. I have never seen this milkweed so I'm excited to try growing it. I know it's a west coast native plant but I hope it will do well here. All five pots are putting up green so at least they're all alive!

Mary

As a general rule, I have no luck with west coast natives...but I wish you luck Mary!

dbarron, same but opposite for me. I can't grow common milkweed or any of the central to eastern milkweeds. I think the seeds know that they are to far west. Ha ha

I so appreciate all the helpful comments. I'll try to remember to update this thread the end of the summer to let everyone know how the plants did here. The person I bought the bare roots from said I could expect blooms this year so I'm really excited about this prospect.

Mary

My experience with A. fascicularis is that it should bloom the first year. Being a western U.S. native, give it a well drained soil that will dry out between waterings. Forms manageable clumps that are easy to divide. Likes fertilizer, though sparingly.

Small flowers not showy, but interesting. Depending on genetics, flower color ranges from cream to a dull, light purple. Recovers fast from caterpillars devouring it.

Wow, thank you for this information. My garden area is small so I surely don't want to have this milkweed spreading so extensively. Will have to rethink just where I want to plant. I wonder if they would do well in a 20 gal pot?

Mary

I have A. fascicularis growing in a clay pot that would roughly measure out to be ~4 gal. It grows OK in it, but a 20 gal. pot should make it much happier.

Remember, this is a western milkweed that is designed to grow in more arid conditions than found in Arkansas. Make your potting soil as porous as possible, incorporating LOTS of perlite or pumice. A good commercial potting soil mixed 50/50 with perlite or pumice would be beneficial. (Even for my SoCal area!)

Excellent advice. I generally use ProMix BP as is, but it still might be too damp as a growing medium. Adding additional Perlite is no problem. How often do you feed this potted milkweed and do you use just a balanced fert?

Mary

Yeah, I'm growing asclepias speciosa seedlings in 50% perlite and 50% normal mix...they seem pretty happy.

dbarron, how often do you feed the seedlings and what do you use? With such a lite growing medium, I'd expect nutrients to flush out fairly quickly. Maybe a timed release fert would work best in these conditions.

May

I haven't yet...because the only perlite I could find was miracle grow (thus fert imbued). I don't like either pre-fertilized like that...or timed release. I prefer to liquid feed with a weak dilution about twice a month. I don't want to grow big leafy plants, but stout tough compact ones...esp in the first year.

Oops ... I had mature potted plants on my mind. Seedlings do require special handling. The bare root plants I purchased are at least 1-2 years mature. A lite medium will have to be watered at least daily once the summer heat arrives and watering every day will quickly flush the nutrients. I'll just have to play it by ear.

Thank you for taking time to reply.

Mary

Hi Mary-

Many western milkweeds naturally grow in poorer soils, A. fascicularis being one of them. Don't stress over fertilizing, or lack thereof. I feed mine monthly with a 10-5-5 type fertilizer or 20-20-20 until they reach a size I'm comfortable with.

Most times, I feed them with whatever is handy sitting in the shed. After that, I fertilize by eye: if they look like they don't need it, they don't get any. Liquid or dry, makes no diff.

Don't overburden yourself or overthink what you're going to feed westerns; they'll resent whatever you give them if given too much anyway.

This is a photo of one of my large fascicularis. I have some smaller ones I'm growing for a butterfly garden project.

I agree, like most natives (and maybe most plants), the worst thing you can do is over love them. Benign neglect works wonders.

Well said!

I just bought one at a local nursery. It sure doesn't look like much, smallish with thin stems. I'll plant it in full sun. Hope it makes it.

Narrow leaf is the last of mine to come up and it does not take well to competition from other plants. I have grown it for about 18 years.