Questions About Milkweed

[Gwynne]

What happened to all the pretty pink blossoms? Is it because it is later in the year and the blossoms are indicitive of early season? Most of the milkweed I am seeing has no blossoms. I think that is why I always thought the season was in June till I started reading up on it. I think the blossoms usually disappear about this time if I am not mistaken and I just assumed it was a short season. I know better now!

Do any other moths or caterpillars feed on milkweed? I found a white caterpillar last week and a green caterpillar the other day. Neither had eaten any of the milkweed and perhaps they were passing through on their way to another plant.

Also, is that the pod that releases all the yellow seeds? Are they harmful? I am running out of milkweed that looks good and was wondering if leaves with the yellow seeds are usable if washed thoroughy or not?

I have always wanted to raise a variety of butterflies. Lindabird and Farfalla mentioned swallowtails. I have been very interested in them, but dont know where to find their host plants. Yes, I know this is a monarch forum, but anything that beautifies the world is a good thing.

[jen]

Hi again Gwynne,
Common Milkweed generally blooms May through June in zone 7, ( I live in NJ ), Others can bloom into the summer months of july and august. I have swamp milkweed in my yard that is just beginning to bloom, and the orange butterfly weed blooms a good part of the summer into early fall. Some think common milkweed is an ugly plant, but the blooms are pretty and smell nice enough, we put up with it in our gardens for the sole reason of attracting and rearing monarchs! As for the yellow seeds, Milkweed seeds that burst from the pod in late August/ early September are BROWN. Its funny you mentioned little and yellow, because just today I was checking the small millkweed patch in my butterfly garden, and found one leaf covered in tiny yellow aphids!
(I don't know of any seeds that are yellow....)
Also, if you are interested, I can list for you some of the plants that make up my butterfly garden. I just planted dill this year, black swallowtail, (apparantly) caterpillars LOVE dill, haven't had any luck yet seeing any. Hope this helped, let me know if you'd like a list,
Jen

[Gwynne]

Hi again Gwynne,
Common Milkweed generally blooms May through June in zone 7, ( I live in NJ ), Others can bloom into the summer months of july and august. I have swamp milkweed in my yard that is just beginning to bloom, and the orange butterfly weed blooms a good part of the summer into early fall. Some think common milkweed is an ugly plant, but the blooms are pretty and smell nice enough, we put up with it in our gardens for the sole reason of attracting and rearing monarchs! As for the yellow seeds, Milkweed seeds that burst from the pod in late August/ early September are BROWN. Its funny you mentioned little and yellow, because just today I was checking the small millkweed patch in my butterfly garden, and found one leaf covered in tiny yellow aphids!
(I don't know of any seeds that are yellow....)
Also, if you are interested, I can list for you some of the plants that make up my butterfly garden. I just planted dill this year, black swallowtail, (apparantly) caterpillars LOVE dill, haven't had any luck yet seeing any. Hope this helped, let me know if you'd like a list,
Jen

I am in PA so must be in zone 7 as well. I dont have a yard so all the milkweed I find is by the highway. Is common milkweed the only milkweed that grows along highways? Does the rest have to be cultivated?

I have seen aphids but thought these were seeds because there were so many and they werent moving. They looked just like aphids however. I guess that is what I am seeing, leaves full of aphids! And they are at the top near the pods so I thought it was possible on the seeds. Thanks for letting me know!

I would love to know what plants you have in your butterfly garden. I wonder what plants might grow in the wild? I think it would be fun to try to raise a variety of butterflies. I hear swallowtails like dill, parsley, and carrots. I wonder if I can put anything into pots on my balcony to have it attract butterflies.

Does orange milkweed have an official name? I would love to see a picture of it and try to find some around here.

[Farfalla]

Jen,
Yes.. Do post the list. Start a thread and we can all add to it.
We'll have the perfect cyber garden.(And then we can all try to make it a reality.)

[ORANGEMUSTANG]

If you are seeing tiny little soft yellow bugs, those are oleander aphids. They will eat the seed pods. I take a gentle/medium flow of water and rinse them off or smash them. It doesn't kill them all, but it really cuts down on their numbers.
Then again, I only have 2 small patches of Milkweed. I heard that lady bugs love those little bugs too.

[Gwynne]

Yes, I am running out of suitable milkweed. I thought if they were seeds I would just wash them off. But tons of bugs, yuck! How come they dont move? I have seen leaves covered in them and one moves and I figured the rest were seeds and the one moving was a little insect and maybe looking like a seed was his camoflauge. Guess I was wrong there!

[ORANGEMUSTANG]

yeah, they don't move much. That's why they don't come back if rinsed off. From what I understand about them, they are all females. They reproduce by cloning themselves. The female gives birth to her exact replica. weird!

[F3]

Sounds like scales. Pretty strange creatures.

[Gwynne]

Jen,
Yes.. Do post the list. Start a thread and we can all add to it.
We'll have the perfect cyber garden.(And then we can all try to make it a reality.)

Okay, let's start this cyber garden. And dont forget to add plants that can be grown in pots as opposed to a real garden. I can keep pots on my balcony.

[jen]

Okay Guys, here it is.....
My butterfly garden consists of the following plants- all are perennials but the zinnias, and Mexican Sunflower, both must have's. I've also included their bloom times, i took color and blooms times into consideration, for an ever changing color show. Also, I have listed then according to sections of my garden, which is separated my gravel paths ( butterflies like gravel and a few big rocks to sun themselves on and help heat up their wings for flight).

Section one ( gets full sun all day)
Tall JoPye weed ( Aug, Sept, Oct)
Paprika yarrow(July and aug)
gayfeather(liatris) (july and august)
Zinnias ( in the bare patches, blooms ALL summer till frost)
Tall garden phlox(july)
New England aster (september and october)
Orange butterfly weed (all summer)
Hollyhock ( July) Supposed to be a "host "plant , but I have never seen any cats on it
silver lace vine ( grows on an arbor over my bench) (september)

Section 2
Some morning shade
Beebalm ( red and purple, all summer till frost) ( hummingbirds visit my garden at leat four times a day for this flowers's nectar)
"shades of orange" agastache, also called licorice mint hyssop, blooms all summer till frost, another hummingbird favorite
meadow phlox (may, early june)
royal knight butterfly bush
large patch of common milkweed(june,july)
turtlehead(september, oct)
goldenrod (aug, sept)

Section 3 ( late afternoon sun)
Mexican sunflower , an absolute MUST, by Frost time, it is about five feet high, a magnet for late season monarchs and hummingbirds, mine grows rather slow, because I direct sow in late may and it takes a good month to emerge.
autumn joy sedum (sept, oct, nov)
dill
verbena, homestead purple (all summer)
purple coneflower,
shasta daisy
black eyed susan( all bloom most of the summer with continual deadheading)
terra cotta yarrow
monnshine yellow yarrow
Goldflame honeysuckle vine ( hummingbird heaven, blooms all summer, grows on another arbor over the garden gate)

I also planted some Verbena bonariensis seed in april, they are tall, slender and airy plants with purple clusters on top, don't take up much planting space b/cause they are so tall and wiry) They are sprinkled all over the garden, which is approx. 24 Feet by 20, just to the left of my low back deck. I bought those as seeds at K-mart in the spring, at the same time I bought the dill, mexican sunflower and zinnia seeds, yeah! Martha Stewart!!!! I see many butterflies daily, tiger swallows, black swallows, anise swallows, cabbage white, sulphurs, fritillaries, baltimore checkerspot,painted ladies, skippers, and of course, MONARCHS! I also have a ever creeping shrub that started out 3 years ago as 3 plants, called "blue mist" shrub, planted on the right side of my deck. It blooms late August, September, October till frost, and the late season monarchs love it, gives them that all important last meal before heading off to Mexico! It does spread like crazy though, i spend a few hours each spring "weeding" some of it out of my other beds.!!!
My garden is "mommy's playpen" and gives me great joy.I hope that my kids are learning to appreciate the wonders of nature and the beauty that comes from studying it. I hope this info helps you all plan a butterfly garden, and Gwynne, most of these will do great in pots, except maybe some of the taller plants, will be too heavy. (Joe pye weed, butterfly bush, mexican sunflower , milkweeds need a long taproot, i'm not sure how they would do it pots. Zinnias do great in pots, autumn joy sedum will come back like a champ every year in a pot, agastache, new england asters, verbena honestead purple (clump verbena) all will do well in pots...Good luck Butterfly Buds!),
Jen

[Pat]

Jen, we have a LOT of the same species! Except my monardas have already mostly gone to seed, they're through blooming for the year.

The skippers love the bonariensis in the fall. It's great for mixing in with other plants. I also keep a patch of mint and one of tall clover, which the azures and blues like.

Also I keep several types of asclepias -- and there seem to be two strains of asclepias incarnata, because I have some plants that bloom once a season no matter what I do, and some other plants that branch and keep putting out new blooms as long as they're deadheaded. I originally got them from my mom in NY but now have some from seeds as well. I keep most of the tropical asclepias in semi-shade, so they bloom late in the summer when not as many other nectar flowers are available.

I also keep several blue spirea shrubs, which are very popular in August and September with the smaller butterflies, and some sage.

I have some common milkweeds that I have to cut down every year (either because a storm knocks them down, or they're needed for monarch cat food!) but if I leave a stalk about 6-12" tall, they will put out a second set of shoots and the monarchs leave a lot of eggs on these low but tender leaves.

And then there are actually some things around here that aren't for the butterflies, like the giant sunflowers, which are volunteers this year that came up near the patio and are delightful for attracting the goldfinches.