It’s a good idea to use a large plastic container for winter storage. Some of them have large taproots. The best performance of the plant is encouraged by a rich and well-draining soil. Milkweed in a sunny location with good drainage.
It is best to plant in full sun, but it can be grown in partial shade if the soil is well drained. The plant should be watered once a week during the growing season and once every other week in the winter. Watering should not be done more frequently than once or twice a month.
Do not overwater as this can damage the root system and cause root rot, which is a serious problem for milkweeds. If you do not have access to potting soil, you can use a mixture of 1 part peat moss to 3 parts water. This mixture can also be used to fertilize the plants.
Table of Contents
Does milkweed need sun or shade?
A few species require partial shade. The season affects the timing of the collection of milkweed seeds. In the spring and early summer, the pods are collected when the flowers are in bloom and the seeds are ready to be sown.
In the fall and winter, milkweeds are best collected in late fall or early winter. Milkweed seeds will germinate in early to mid-October and will be ready for sowing in mid to late November.
Will milkweed come back every year?
Perennial, meaning they come back year after year, are native milkweeds. Their aerial parts die back, but their rootstock is still alive during the winter. If you cut back the milkweed stalks in the late fall or winter, the seeds will have a chance to grow. Native milkweeds can be found in many parts of the world, including North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and South America.
They are native to the tropics and subtropics, but they are also found as far north as the Arctic Circle. Milkweed is an important food source for many animals, such as birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, birds and fish. It is also used as an ornamental plant in gardens and landscapes.
Where should you not plant milkweed?
While milkweed is needed in large numbers to support and expand the monarch butterfly population, we do not recommend planting tropical milkweed, and further suggest milkweed of any species not be planted within 5–10 miles of a water source. For more information, please visit the Monarch Butterfly Fact Sheet.
What month do you plant milkweed?
Ideally, the best time to plant milkweed seeds is in the fall because of the cold temperatures and moist weather during the winter. When the weather is warm and the soil is moist, you can plant milkweed in late spring or early summer. Milkweed is a perennial plant that can be grown in a wide variety of climates. It can grow in full sun, partial shade, and full shade.
Milkweed can tolerate a range of soil types, but it prefers well-drained soil with a pH of 6.5 to 7.0. The plant prefers moist soil, so it is best planted in areas with good drainage. If you are planting in an area with poor drainage, you may want to consider using a soil amendment such as peat moss or composted cow manure to improve drainage and prevent the plant from becoming over-drought-tolerant.
Will milkweed take over my garden?
That, however, is not the milkweed you want to plant! The common milkweed is very aggressive and invasive and take over your butterfly garden very quickly. To match the milkweed plant to your garden’s needs is the key.
Which milkweed do monarchs prefer?
Female monarchs will lay eggs on all nine milkweed species, but they prefer some over others. Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and common milkweed (A. syriaca) averaged the highest number of eggs per plant in the study. “This is the first study to show that monarch caterpillars lay their eggs in milkweeds,” said study co-author and University of California, Davis, entomologist Dr. David Schubert.
“It’s a very interesting finding, because it suggests that the monarch butterfly’s diet is very diverse, and that it may be able to adapt to a wide variety of food sources. It’s also important to note that this study was done in a laboratory setting, so we don’t know for sure if the same thing would happen in nature.
But it’s exciting to think that we may have found a new food source for monarch butterflies in our own backyards.” The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the California Academy of Sciences.
