Ming, good luck with the seeds/seedlings....keep us posted. Sam, like my mature desert milkweeds, my seedlings gain and drop leaves pretty frequently, so I wouldn't worry about it much as long as the plants are alive and growing. I do keep mine in full sun or 3/4 sun so that might help. They are pretty cute and delicate when small but they'll settle in eventually. Even my larger purchased Asclepias subulata plants often take two years to really settle in and start blooming again. Some have leaves most of the time, and some don't. The ones that do have a lot of leaves tend to get a lot of monarch-looking caterpillars which I welcome of course. Plus aphids (which I ignore except on seedlings) and those large tarantula hawkmoths (why they hang around these plants I don't know, but I see it routinely around the valley). Keep us posted both of you. Take care, Grant

did you see the link to the adopt a milkweed newbie forum? you might find what you are looking for there :) Here is a link that might be useful: adopt a milkweed newbie

They congregate wherever the flowers are. I see more butterflies in the pasture where the flowers are mixed in with tall grasses than in the treelines. Our treelines are shady and there's not much milkweed (or anything else in terms of flowers) there in the shade. I mostly grow flowers in larger drifts so the butterflies can flit from one to another, but they'll hit spots with one or two flowers and then move on to find the next spot as well. If we're talking about all butterflies, nothing attracts them more than henbit in early spring and zinnias in summer. I try to avoid the newer hybrid type flowers and grow old-fashioned heirloom types. Lisa, I almost never see monarch cats, but they have to be someplace nearby because we have lots of monarch butterflies in the summertime.....even if I don't see them in the cat stage.

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)