Hi I am interested in your milkweed plants. Thanks, Sherri

No Pipevine seeds, unfortunately, and no milkweed vine seeds either. You might do a separate post inquiry about them, though, because there may be a few folks who have or will be harvesting them soon. Between the Monarchs, the milkweed leaf beetles, and the Obscure Sphinx moths, I had no vine seeds this year. Thanks for the tip on extracting seed from the Red Porterweed. No, it is only hardy to like zone 10a or something. It may reseed, but this is the first year I've grown it, so don't know if it will or not, especially since I am in a much cooler zone than 10a. I got mine from Bustani Plant Farm, and when it arrived in April, it already had bloom spikes on it. Love their plants! I am also hoping to harvest some seeds of Night Blooming Jasmine (for my sphinx moths) very soon if it doesn't get bitten by the cold this week. I've also been deadheading my Cosmis Orange cosmos because it just got far too rampant in the garden this year. I had some that was over 7' tall! For gosh sakes, it's never gotten that big before. My yard looks like a jungle right now. I want really badly to pull all the Cosmos, but the Monarchs are still flying thru and they love to nectar on it. I found another Ebay source for the Giant Milkweed and will attach a link. Seller has a good rating, too. She offers 100 seeds for $3.50. Much less expensive that what I paid. Live and learn! Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Calotropis gigantea seeds

I *think* all of it will be gone now. If not, I'll post one last time to find a home for the rest. Thanks! Cathy

Thanks so much for this information, needtoseegreen. "The three species you mentioned", is that the newsletter you're quoting? I have been concerned about planting non native milkweed so I'm very glad for this post. I grow the milkweed that is native to where I live in So. Cal., if was growing in the yard for decades and I didn't know what it was until 2 years ago. Luckily the roots survived my weedings. It makes sense not to fool around with mother nature and grow non native milkweed. I'm not surprised with the findings you listed from the newsletter. I have read about the toxicity of the "milk" varying and that So. Cal Monarchs aren't used to the toxicity level of tropical or other non native MW's, but I have no opinion because I don't know for sure. I would trust what Monarch Watch says on it. The Monarchs that visited my yard last year when I tried a small plant of tropical in addition to the native (A. fascicularis) didn't lay eggs on the tropical. The tropical didn't do well in my heavy clay soil either. Could you please forward the newsletter to me? I'd be very interested. Do you think they would mind if you mentioned them here? I don't recommend using anything but water on the milkweed, because even a tiny amount of bleach in water will kill the caterpillars on contact. I found this out in my cat raising indoors for the first time starting a few weeks ago. The newly hatched Monarch cats are way too small for anyone to notice, they are extremely small and are hidden under leaves, or can be embedded in the tender growth at the top of the stem. Insecticidal soap would kill them and leave a toxic residue (to them). I recommend crushing the aphids, and wearing latex gloves, they stain the skin. Hosing them off would be hard on the new cats and would likely wash them off too. May I ask what MW species you grow? since you're in the same growing zone and area as myself. Any way to find out if the other species you listed (other than A. fascicularis) are native to the L.A. area? Any So. Calif. milkweed and Monarch breeders who read this, could you share what species of native MW you grow? I am battling black mildew on my A. fascicularis leaves, and pulling off the affected leaves daily. It's a huge task. I need to keep a clean food supply for all the tiny cats I have brought in. Today I picked about 5 stem tops and found 4 more tiny cats, and the nights are getting too cold for them. Just the problem that the newsletter addressed; tiny cats hatching in weather that is too cold due to abnormal breeding spans encouraged by the non native MW species. (I get the impression that tropical MW to a Monarch is like catnip to a cat) Sadly all the nurseries, even Home Depot carry these non-native MW's, and I think they have helped create the OE problem. The cats I raised last December-January all emerged as OE infected butterflies. The reason for this (according to what I've read) is because since the plants have been visited all season by butterflies, all that "foot traffic" has raised the probability of contamination of the plants and egg by the microscopic OE spores. The unnaturally long breeding season puts Monarchs in a perilous position not just weather wise, but disease wise. Sorry this got too lengthy. This fall I'm dipping the milkweed used for feeding (clear of eggs or tiny cats), in water with a few drops of bleach for 10 seconds, and rinse it well. The 2 Monarchs I released today had questionable looking thoraxes (possibly OE infected), I was torn about releasing them. They were not raised entirely indoors. I need to get an inexpensive lighted microscope to check for OE, any suggestions where to get one, anyone? Thanks. It didn't work for me to raise the eggs on the narrow leaves, the larvae all got black death or NPV (or?) at various stages. Now it's the cut MW in water, tons of work and I can't disinfect the MW that have eggs on them. I'm worn out! It's a full time job. Feels like changing baby's diapers all day long. :)