MILKWEED BEDS

[Teresa]

Does anyone know if mulch is bad to use around milkweed? I'm wondering if it would deter the cats from crawling away because of it's roughness.

[John Beaulieu]

I can't imagine that a mulch would cause any problem. Milkweed is such a hardy plant that it does not usually need any special care, but perhaps you might mulch to prevent other weeds. I have seen bark, gravel, chipped wood and compost all used with no problems.

John Beaulieu, Midhurst ON

[Teresa]

Thats good to know. thanks

[Mona Miller]

Does anyone know if mulch is bad to use around milkweed? I'm wondering if it would deter the cats from crawling away because of it's roughness.

I don't think mulch will keep the cat away. I've heard of people putting down bird netting to keep rabbits, squirrels, and cats off plant. Of course, you would have to put it down while the plants are small or cut it into sections and then put it down.

[Pixie]

I'd like to know what everyone does with the milkweed plants in the fall..........Do you all cut back the milkweeds to the ground for the winter? I have been cutting them down (the incanarta & the ntuberosa) even tho the master gardener from the Missouri Botanical Garden said not to. I found that if we had bad storms over the fall & winter, the milkweeds would be toppled. So I cut them back - they reappear every sprng like clockwook................How does everyone else care for their milkweeds over the winter?? I do have to pull out the curissavica every fall as it is only an annual here in St. Louis & then replant in the spring..................

[Mona Miller]

I leave my perennials standing because many, many chrysalis of butterflies who winter over may be attached. I also do not throw away my leaves. Many, many moths use trees that lose their leaves and are wintering over in the leaf litter. I don't do any major yard clean ups until the end of April to early May.

[Paul Cherubini]

You should not cut back the native milkweeds until a severe freeze or drought has killed all the green leaves and stems. That's because during the fall the milkweeds are in the process of storing energy in the underground rhizomes. Cutting back prematurely interferes with this process, so the following spring the rhizomes send up smaller, weaker plants that may not bloom or be very tall.

[Mona Miller]

That's funny, cause most of us are cutting our milkweed to feed to our caterpillars. I leave a few to go to seed. I just went out today and collected two grocery bags of common milkweed seeds, not in my yard, but in gas line right of ways and along the street where the county hadn't cut back the weeds. I want to give some to the kids at school so they can spread them in their gardens.