Showy or 'Common' Milkweed ... grown in big pots?

[maryeleek]

The huge leaves of this variety of Milkweed kept my little cats alive when I ran out of milkweed this year.

I want to plant this variety as a backup but understand it puts out underground runners. Since my garden and yard are small, I'd like to try growing this variety in big, deep pots to try and contain the spread. I'm hoping 24" deep will be sufficent.

Is there anyone who has been successful growing this variety in a big pot?

Mary

[Mona Miller]

I grow them in pots, but they don't do as well and sometimes don't come back the next year. I collected rhizomes and placed those in the pots. The rhizomes will send up shoots. I also grow swamp milkweed in pots.

[maryeleek]

My thanks, Mona.

I've got some big pots sitting around so will pick up some potting soil and give it a try. It takes a lot of potting soil to fill those big pots but if they can provide a backup of food for the little cats next year, it will be well worth the effort. My deck only gets filtered sun in the a.m., direct sun for about 2-2.5 hours in the early afternoon, then shade the remaining time. A local nursery has the big common milkweed growing in dappled shade for at least part of the day (in the ground) so I hope I will have enough natural light. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Now to be successful in getting the seed to germinate.

Mary

[Mona Miller]

I fill the bottom of pots with pine bark mulch that way you don't have to put in so much potting soil.

[Wyvern]

Yes they put up runners but it's not as bad as you might think (NOTHING bad like bamboo and such). Just pop the small plants from the ground when they come up in areas you don't want.. not hard to control. If you have cats at the time, just throw the shoots in to be fed on.

Normally I only have problems with runners when we get several days of good hard rain.. it softens the soil and encourages the milkweed to make an attempt to spread. Once the ground dries out again, the little runner shoots stop coming up. Also, not all common milkweed plants will throw runners. I have one plant by itself in one bed on one side of the porch.. every year for the past 6 years.. just one small plant comes up. It never grows taller than 3 feet and never sends out runners. I have another plant on the other side of the porch... it does occasionally try to throw runners up. The difference between the two beds is the amount of water they get... the single plant is in a very dry spot and the other bed is right where the hose/faucet is so gets a lot of extra water when someone is using the hose, etc. I have another spot in a different place where there are only ever 5 stalks.. again no runners..but it's in a dry spot where the ground stays pretty hard even when it rains. Then in the back yard is a naturally wet spot (i.e. soft ground) that some of the milkweed likes to try to throw runners in the spring. The runners don't cause me any trouble when they show up in the lawn outside of the beds. I just pop them out from the areas where I don't want them...takes only a couple seconds.

[maryeleek]

... Mona, thanks for the helpful tip on putting fine bark in the bottom of the big pots. I noticed in a photo you posted of your rearing houses the big tubs of milkweed sitting about. The milkweed looked so healthy. I have one very big green plastic tub in the garage that I use to drag around and pick up piles of leaves. I'm going to drill holes in the bottom of it and put it to better use growing milkweed. I find, all of a sudden, I'm planning my plantings around the milkweed and nectar plants for the butterflies and hummingbirds! It's actually more fun to grow FOR something than to just plant for the sake of growing something.

...wyvern, my thanks for your helpful information on growing the common milkweed. Good advice; what is invasive in one garden wouldn't necessarily be so in another garden. I may get brave and try one in ground, just to see how it performs. My yard is small and my planting space is limited so I like to try and make best use of the little bit I have.

Now, my next big project is getting the perennial milkweed seed to germinate. I've had the seed in the fridge for almost a month, now, in damp coffee filters in zip lock bags. I took two seeds of two different varieties out yesterday and planted them in a cell pack, just to see if either would germinate. I left the remaining seeds as is in the fridge. I've read several lengths of time suggested for cold stratification, none at less than a month but couldn't resist the urge to try.

Mary

[summerluver]

I'd like to throw some of my seed pods from my common milkweed around in areas in my town that I see don't have much growing, to try and get a milkweed patch going here and there. Can I do that now, with any hope of some coming up next spring?

[Mona Miller]

If you do a little dance and there's a bit of bare ground. When I plant seeds with kids at school, I have them do the wildflower dance. The more a seed can contact the ground, the more likely it is to grow.

[maryeleek]

I'd like to throw some of my seed pods from my common milkweed around in areas in my town that I see don't have much growing, to try and get a milkweed patch going here and there. Can I do that now, with any hope of some coming up next spring?

Excellent idea. We all need to think about becoming 'Johnny Milkweeds'. It appears to me wild milkweed has become non existent in my area. I've driven miles and miles of roadways searching for milkweed to feed my little cats and found only two tiny plants. No wonder we seldom see butterflies around here, there's no plant life to support them.

Mary

[summerluver]

We had to go 2 counties away to find a few straggly plants growing along the side of the road, which only had tussock moths on them. They were so out of the way, the Monarchs couldn't even find them! Johnny Milkweed....I like that! I don't think we'd need to put the upside down pots on our heads though as he did....hmmmm....what then?

[maryeleek]

I grow them in pots, but they don't do as well and sometimes don't come back the next year. I collected rhizomes and placed those in the pots. The rhizomes will send up shoots. I also grow swamp milkweed in pots.

Mona,

How many plants do you place in each of your big pots / tubs? From the photo's, it looks like there must be several plants per pot. It looks like you also grow common milkweed in the ground?

I'm having real good luck with my milkweed germination. Four varieties are germinating extremely well after their stint in the fridge.

The common milkweed seed just arrived Saturday so I don't know how well it will germinate. Put some seed in a 2 liter mini greenhouse and some in a damp coffee filter in ziploc bag and placed in fridge for cold treatment, just to see which method works well for the Common milkweed. Maybe I'll get a head start on root development for next spring's growth.

Mary

[Mona Miller]

The milkweed in the large pots is tropical milkweed. I start that in early April in seed flats. Most of my common milkweed is from relocating rhizomes that creep out into my yard in the front. In a large pot you can put several rhizomes. I put about 25 tropical milkweed seedlings in those large tubs. I also cut it back after its been eaten and take those cuttings and put them into soil. They root easily in the summer.