Hi, @jetjockey. I bought both the tuberosa and the incarnita at a local nursery last year, ready to plant, spring '16. The blooms took right off. I bought a third one as well, swamp (?) asclepias, can't recall. Some Monarchs found that one and the caterpillars ate it right down and it is no more. But it worked!
Last fall I collected half the tuberosa pods, and let half go naturally (see my first line re my gangrene thumb).
To my astonishment, they sprouted just around Easter in April. There is an over-wintering process. (first time I ever tried growing from seed.) I thought I had waited long enough (I don't have a seedling lamp, yet), but the babies succumbed to a 6-day cold snap in May. They were OK at first, but 6 days was too much. But I still have some seeds, I knew to not plant all the seeds either, lol.
Hey, I'm also in zone 6a! Whoa, that map has changed - I used to be in zone 5 (I've grown some veggies in the past). I didn't move, the heat did.
You won't find asclepias at box stores, like Lowe's or Home Depot. You'll have to check a local nursery (esp if you have an organic place). It's because of the Round-up, I believe, because that's what is killing the milkweed and the big stores aren't going to even know or talk about it (in my experience).
These are the babies that didn't make it, this is like the blog I didn't want to post, haha, cuz it's sad. :( Thanks for your interest. Followed.
You can also get all kinds of milkweed seeds on eBay for fairly reasonable prices, or just collect the seeds from wild milkweed, which is still quite beautiful. Let's see if I can post some pictures...
Mmmm..., doesn't seem to be working, it just pastes the path to where the pic is stored on my HD.
Hey @ Cryptopolis! Thanks for reply! Well, I almost had some from seed.. also SADLY this year I was unable to get to the nursery where I got those plants. Mb I can get more seeds going this summer, I kept some, it's good to be pessimistic sometimes haha.
The basic way to post an img on steemit is in markdown, do this: . I think u can put txt in the brackets, i never have. Yr img has to be an html url path, so you hv to save yr pic on a cloud site, i use imgur. It's easy, also like imgsafe.org. Hope these links work, if the imgur comes up on my pg hope u will let me know lol.
Imgs will also post just with the url, w/o the markdown code. See where "Markdown Styling Guide" is in blue, click it and it shows how to do a lot of stuff. What I've learned is a mash-up of markdown and html. Not too hard.
Thanks Mary for the reply & explanation how to post an image. I'll give it a try later. I used to have a flikr account, but I haven't used it for years, so it may not be active anymore. I'll try imgur.
Oh really nice
Hey, thank you!
Beautiful pictures Mary Helen, especially the first one of the A. tuberosa & the one of the hummingbird.
Thank you!
Did you plant the butterfly milkweed from seed or root cuttings? If from seed did they bloom the first year? What's your USDA zone, I am in 6a.
Hi, @jetjockey. I bought both the tuberosa and the incarnita at a local nursery last year, ready to plant, spring '16. The blooms took right off. I bought a third one as well, swamp (?) asclepias, can't recall. Some Monarchs found that one and the caterpillars ate it right down and it is no more. But it worked!
Last fall I collected half the tuberosa pods, and let half go naturally (see my first line re my gangrene thumb).
To my astonishment, they sprouted just around Easter in April. There is an over-wintering process. (first time I ever tried growing from seed.) I thought I had waited long enough (I don't have a seedling lamp, yet), but the babies succumbed to a 6-day cold snap in May. They were OK at first, but 6 days was too much. But I still have some seeds, I knew to not plant all the seeds either, lol.
Hey, I'm also in zone 6a! Whoa, that map has changed - I used to be in zone 5 (I've grown some veggies in the past). I didn't move, the heat did.
You won't find asclepias at box stores, like Lowe's or Home Depot. You'll have to check a local nursery (esp if you have an organic place). It's because of the Round-up, I believe, because that's what is killing the milkweed and the big stores aren't going to even know or talk about it (in my experience).
These are the babies that didn't make it, this is like the blog I didn't want to post, haha, cuz it's sad. :( Thanks for your interest. Followed.
You can also get all kinds of milkweed seeds on eBay for fairly reasonable prices, or just collect the seeds from wild milkweed, which is still quite beautiful. Let's see if I can post some pictures...
Mmmm..., doesn't seem to be working, it just pastes the path to where the pic is stored on my HD.
Hey @ Cryptopolis! Thanks for reply! Well, I almost had some from seed.. also SADLY this year I was unable to get to the nursery where I got those plants. Mb I can get more seeds going this summer, I kept some, it's good to be pessimistic sometimes haha.
The basic way to post an img on steemit is in markdown, do this: . I think u can put txt in the brackets, i never have. Yr img has to be an html url path, so you hv to save yr pic on a cloud site, i use imgur. It's easy, also like imgsafe.org. Hope these links work, if the imgur comes up on my pg hope u will let me know lol.
Imgs will also post just with the url, w/o the markdown code. See where "Markdown Styling Guide" is in blue, click it and it shows how to do a lot of stuff. What I've learned is a mash-up of markdown and html. Not too hard.
Thanks Mary for the reply & explanation how to post an image. I'll give it a try later. I used to have a flikr account, but I haven't used it for years, so it may not be active anymore. I'll try imgur.