The 2 Best Milkweeds for Your Butterfly Garden!

What are your experiences with butterfly garden milkweeds? Let us know in the comments! To learn about the wildlife and pollinator benefits of milkweed beyond those it has for the monarch butterfly check out this video: https://youtu.be/0cd5NilRk-E

Just found your channel. Removed alot of the grass last year and made a huge butterfly garden. Swamp Milkweed did great. I started seeds very early in the winter along with other milkweed but the Swamp grew the fastest and produced flowers and seed first year. Raised alot of monarchs with it.

Very helpful….I didn’t realize Rose and Swamp Milkweeds are the same. Thanks!

LOVE your clips! I learn something every time I tune in. Well done!

I Ammon my fourth year at my community PG, snd the A. tuberosa Plants have reached maturity, and I have a dozen beautiful plants this year. Swamp MW too is one of my favorite milkweeds!

I wished I found this video earlier on in my native planting journey. I came to the same conclusion as this video, but only after finding some very aggressive milkweeds.

I would really like to see a video on how y'all use common milkweed in habitat management projects.

I’d like a video on the definition of native! I started my garden last year and my butterfly milkweed is really struggling… I hope it grows some this year. I’m also hoping it’s just because it’s a brand new garden and by year three some of these plants will take off. I’ve got to contend with lots of rabbits and my lawn mower though. They’ve both taken out quite a few plants. I’m trying to brainstorm some nice, sustainable, and cheap ideas for edging too though which would probably help the lawn mowers.

I’ve heard a lot of people say asclepias tuberosa is hard to grow, but it was one of the first plants I ever grew from seed in my garden, I live in Wyoming, and it actually does pretty well here. There are a lot of species of asclepias in the southwest U.S that are really cool but aren’t commonly offered in cultivation such as; asclepias Welshii, Asclepias albicans, Asclepias eastwoodiana, Asclepias asperula, and Asclepias cryptoceras(I find this one especially interesting, blue green foliage with creamy yellow petals and blood red hoods). Many of these are rare, and in some cases narrow endemics, so I understand why they aren’t offered in cultivation, but one can dream, right?

Excellent High quality video about the "butterfly plant" Thank you.

I appreciate the details and research of your content! I discovered the genus of silphium last year, finding this group of plants amazing and highly adaptable to our changing climate, plus pollinators love them in addition to the beauty they bring to the garden. Would love a deep dive showcasing the incredible silphium family ☺️

I love butterfly milkweed! I knew it would be one of the 2 😫

Very informative video! I have butterfly milkweed seeds but haven't started any yet. I will get some going this year, I'm always looking to add pollinator friendly things around the garden :)

Amazing thank you for this info! 💖

This is so helpful for me! Thanks so much to each of you for sharing 💛

That was great brother thanks. When we move to a country with more open spaces like that, we'll keep this in mind. :)

I would like to know what you consider native plants . Bowling Green, Ky. Thanks. Really enjoy your posts.

Great video!

Nice

Swamp is great for monarchs, but the plant is entirely too weak if your goal is a sustainable butterfly garden. Swamp is very rough looking by mid July (so the last generation of monarchs tends to avoid it entirely), and is also a favorite food for rabbits. If you have rabbits, swamp isn't going to work (trust me...I've been battling this issue for two years). This will be my last year with swamp. I have already replaced it in a good chunk of my gardens with common. If your goal is solely a butterfly garden...grow common...it's a beast of a plant (that the rabbits actually do avoid) and if it gets nipped it just comes back stronger...Swamp doesn't do that (since it's an early secessional with a fibrous root system). Butterfly weed is also an excellent choice because the last generation of monarchs prefers it due to the fact that it keeps it's integrity longer. Hope this is helpful to someone. Swamp...great plant...but too weak.