Butterfly Milkweed COMMON Pink Asclepias Perennial Monarch Host Plant 50 Seeds

Mother Nature's Seeds

Cold Stratify your seeds or plant in Fall after last frost!

100% Pure Seed ? Non-GMO ? Fresh for this Season

• Milkweed, Common
• (Asclepias syriaca)
• Tags: Butterfly, Meadow Gardening, Milkweed (Asclepias species), Pollinator, U.S. Native
• Common Milkweed has pink flowers and grows to four feet tall.  It is native to the Midwest and eastern U.S.  It prefers full sun and loamy, mesic soil, but it can tolerate a wide variety of conditions.  This species can spread aggressively in moister sites and is most appropriate for butterfly habitat gardens, conservation and meadow plantings

FAST FACTS

• SCIENTIFIC NAME: Asclepias syriaca
• COLOR(S): Pink
• SEED TYPE: Perennial
• SUN: Full Sun, Partial Shade
• MOISTURE: Dry, Moderate
• HEIGHT (IN.): 36-48
• BLOOM PERIOD: Summer
• USDA HARDINESS ZONE(S)4-9.

ADVANTAGES OF THIS FLOWER

• Zones 4 - 10
• Easy To Grow
• Bee Friendly
• Deer Resistant
• Low Maintenance
• Multiple Blooms / Rebloomer
• Extended Bloom Time (more than 4 weeks)
• Plants For Small Spaces
• Great For Mass Plantings
• Light Requirements
• Full Sun
• Half Sun / Half Shade
• Bloom Time: Spring and Summer

HOW TO GROW MILKWEED

When & Where To Plant Milkweed

Light: Young Milkweed plants need plenty of diffuse light as they grow. Plant in full sun locations.

Soil: There is a Milkweed variety for every landscape.

Common Milkweed grows well in average garden soil.

Swamp Milkweed, as its name implies, will do best in a moist environment, making it great for wet meadows or rain gardens.

Tropical Milkweed performs beautifully in hot, humid conditions, and can be grown as an annual in the north.

Butterfly Weed and Whorled Milkweed grows best in dry conditions.

Spacing: Milkweed establish large, deep root systems and prefer not to be transplanted.

Butterfly Weed, Whorled Milkweed, and Common Milkweed should all be spaced about 18? apart.

Swamp Milkweed eventually matures to forms clumps up to 36" across. You can plant them closer and then thin the plants as they grow in, or, plant Swamp Milkweed and its cultivars between 30? and 36? apart.

Planting Time: Milkweed plants can be planted in spring or fall. In spring, your milkweed plants will likely arrive in a dormant state, with no green leaves above the soil line. This is perfectly normal! At this stage in your milkweed's growth, all of the energy is being focused on developing a strong root system. After you plant your milkweed, you should see it 'wake up' as the soil warms and should begin to see leaves form - often, milkweed can be slow to wake up from dormancy compared to other perennials in your garden. Be sure not to overwater while they are dormant.

Fall planting in fall gives your plants a chance to establish themselves before winter. In areas with cold winters, this perennial plant will return in late spring.

Growing Milkweed From Seed: To start milkweed from seed, the easiest way is to emulate Mother Nature and plant them in the fall. If you really want to start your seeds in the spring, first you must break their dormancy with cold stratification, which we cover in our guide for starting milkweed from seed.

Learn More: How To Germinate and Grow Milkweed Seeds.

How To Plant Milkweed: Step-By-Step Instructions

Start with healthy plants that have developed root systems.

Prepare a planting hole that's twice as deep and twize as wide as the root ball of your milkweed plant. When planting multiple plants, you can amend the soil for each planting hole, or amend the whole bed before planting.

If the roots are clinging to the sides of the pot, you can "rough up" the roots to encourage outward growth.

Plant your lmilkweed with the top of the root ball even with the soil line. Backfill soil around the plant and press firmly all around.

Water well to compress the soil and remove an air pockets.

How To Care For Milkweed Plants

Growth habit: Most milkweed species are clump-forming. Common Milkweed is a single stemmed variety.

Staking: Milkweed plants have sturdy stems - no staking needed.

Watering: Swamp Milkweed varieties need either a naturally moist environment or regular watering. Whorled and Common Milkweeds, as well as Butterfly Weed, are suited to a dry environment.

Fertilizing: Milkweed does not require fertilization. This native plant performs well in poor soils.

Mulching: You may mulch milkweed with leaf litter or fine-chopped bark mulch if you're trying to control weeds. Dry-soil loving milkweeds, like Butterfly Weed, may not appreciate the water retaining qualities of mulch.

Trimming & Pruning: None needed.

Monarchs & Milkweed

The leaves of all milkweed species are the host plant for the caterpillars of beautiful American monarch butterflies - meaning milkweed leaves are the ONLY food that they can eat to survive.

However, because of widespread pesticide use and the destruction of meadows across the country, wild-growing milkweeds are disappearing in places where these butterflies breed.

This has led to a nearly 90% decline in monarch populations over the last 2 decades! Looking ahead, if we don't replenish these lost milkweeds, Monarch butterflies will vanish from the American landscape forever. Fortunately, you can plant milkweed to help support your local monarch butterfly and pollinator population!

HOW TO COLD STRATIFY SEEDS

Everyone wants plants. Now. But there are a small group of seeds that require a special treatment before they will even germinate in a climate that has temperatures below freezing. This process is called ?Cold Stratification.? There are two ways to accomplish this.

Fall Planting

If time is not a problem, you can put them in the ground in fall and let them go through a winter. They will sprout next year, but not flower. The following year, having gone through two winters, they will return and bloom as expected.

If you are planting poppies direct sowing is recommended in late fall or early spring for zones 2-8

Create a "False Winter"

The second way to do this, if you want to save time, is to create a ?false winter.?  What this does is trick the seeds into thinking they have been in the ground for an entire year.  All they need is to be in your refrigerator for at least 2 ½ months.

About 3 months before spring, place seeds in a plastic bag with a handful of slightly dampened, clean peat, paper towel, or a mix of clean peat and sand.

Seal and label the bag with seed name and date, then store in the refrigerator (not freezer) for at least 2½ mos. before planting in spring. (The cold period mimics a full winter?s cold.)

Once your seed has been treated, it?s ready to plant when spring arrives.