how far apart to plant

[David Calhoun]

Some of my milkweeds (Common) are planted apart so that I can walk between them,others are so close as to form an impenetrable tangle.Do you recommend spreading them out? David

[Mona Miller]

Humans may not be able to walk through, but it makes a nice pathway for caterpillars. Caterpillars falling on the ground don't always find another plant.

[dandjtaylor]

David

Regardless of how you spread them out now, the mature plants will send their own roots out with new shoots springing up from them up to 3 feet away. I have my Common spaced at about 4 feet apart and have all sorts of shoots coming up in between, where I have daisies and zinnias. One even went under my stepping stones and came up on the other side in the Butterfly Weed area.

So I suggest a 36"-48" spacing for now. Also, they grow nicely in pots so that you don't have to worry about the agressive spread of the Common milkweed.

[Wyvern]

Some of my milkweeds (Common) are planted apart so that I can walk between them,others are so close as to form an impenetrable tangle.Do you recommend spreading them out? David

Plan to spread them out a little since as the plants mature from year to year and the root stock gets stronger with age they will eventually send out rhizomes and spread on their own to fill in the gaps. This year my small patch of commons in the back yard went nutzo on the spreading part after many years of being self-contained...thankfully they chose to spread sideways along the bed instead of outwards into the lawn. LOL.