Seed Exchange Forum?

[wbl56]

Would there be any interest in including a Seed Exchange forum? I know I would be happy to acquire seeds and have seeds I would be willing to share...

[John Beaulieu]

I would have a great interest in a seed exchange. I want to grow as many species of milkweed as possible (zone 4) in my garden. In the last year I have been able to find and grow the following: A. Incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) 5 cultivars - local wild, 'Rose', 'Soul Mate', 'Ice Ballet' and 'Milk Maid', as well as A. tuberosa (orange and yellow). I grow the tropical milkweed as an annual. I have been able to harvest seed from all but the tuberosa, and would gladly exchange seeds for any other varieties or species (excluding of course common milkweed which I assume we all have).

John

[wbl56]

I just figured I probably wasn't the only person looking for seeds. I am trying to grow all of the species that are native to Michigan, and am still short a few species. I currently have seeds for A. incarnata (from Ice Ballet; however, since I am not familiar with the genetics of Asclepias spp., I don't know if the seeds will produce plants which are true to the parent plant...my guess is they won't, but time will tell), A. amplexicaulis (a relatively limited amount), and A. tuberosa, as well as A. syriaca. In particular, I am looking for seeds from A. ovalifolia and A. viridiflora, but would be happy to share any of the seeds I have for a SASE.

[wbl56]

I would have a great interest in a seed exchange. I want to grow as many species of milkweed as possible (zone 4) in my garden. In the last year I have been able to find and grow the following: A. Incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) 5 cultivars - local wild, 'Rose', 'Soul Mate', 'Ice Ballet' and 'Milk Maid', as well as A. tuberosa (orange and yellow). I grow the tropical milkweed as an annual. I have been able to harvest seed from all but the tuberosa, and would gladly exchange seeds for any other varieties or species (excluding of course common milkweed which I assume we all have).

John

John, I'm not sure if you received my reply, but I would be happy to exchange seeds with you. My supply of A. amplexicaulis is limited, but could send you 30 seeds or so. I would be interested in A. incarnata 'Soul Mate.' Let me know what you think...

[John Beaulieu]

Wade

I may not have given you my e-mail with my address.

butterflies@look.ca

Yes, I would like to exchange the seeds! Please e-mail me your postal address so I can send 'Soul Mate' seeds.

I have added a photo of this variety of Swamp Milkweed to my Photobucket album. I can see very little difference between 'Soul Mate', 'Rose' and wild swamp milkweed. If I use my imagination I think 'Soul Mate' is the most colourful. It also flowered later than 'Rose' for me. but I have only been growing them for one season. Local garden centres offer very little information about the origins of the various commercial swamp milkweeds.

John Beaulieu
90 Doran Road, Box 118
Midhurst, ON L0L 1X0
CANADA

[cgrendy3]

I would love any 'extra' seeds anyone has for any milkweed. (I currently grow only tropical and swamp) I do a little 'monarch-cycle program' for my son's elementary class, and would love to hand out some small packets of seed to the kids!! I usually don't have enough seeds from my small patch of milkweed to just hand them out randomly--I do give out a lot of seeds to fellow gardeners, but I want to make sure I can re-seed well each year!

And, I'm 'working' on the school to start a milkweed / butterfly garden on their grounds too! They already have an A-B-C garden, so I think they're going to be open to the butterfly garden and hopefully even becoming a waystation! Oh, and any other native flowing seeds (Indiana) would also be quite welcome!

I also have a farmer who is willing to seed around his field with milkweed!! And, he won't be using any non-organic methods of farming!! (No herbicides, pesticides, etc.) Woo-hoo! This is a huge step here in the middle of Indiana soybean and corn growing land! So, if I have seeds to give to him--in addition to the seeds he might buy?--he's much more likely to work with me this spring!

A seed exchange is an awesome idea--maybe if I get more species growing well and increase my milkweed area--which I already have planned to do this spring!--then I can actually have lotsa extra seeds to swap with my fellow butterfly homies here!

Here's my email if anyone has some goodies!
cgrendy@yahoo.com
I'll provide my addy and gladly pay postage! Thanks so much!

[cgrendy3]

Oh, I just realized that the previous post on this topic is from 2005, but I'd love to revisit this idea

[MNkristin]

so did this get under way?