Oh wonderful! I don't know if you can tell from the picture - but this guy is over 6 feet tall, I'm definitely going to try to get some cuttings.
thanks!!

Neat! I love it (great pics too, by the way). If you ever have extra seeds, I'd love to swap you for some. I'm slowly adding more and more milkweeds and their relatives and have been really enjoying their durability and beauty.

I've got a couple of shrubby types, plus our good old Asclepias linaria and A. subulata, plus whatever that weedy but fun thin-leaf climbing type is, propagated initially, like Dave says, from a stem cutting.

Great post! Good luck, keep us posted,
Grant

@grant - I'd be more than happy to save seeds - but when's the best time to get them? And is there any special care I need to take with them? Or with the plant itself (that I hope to propagate from my cutting, like dave suggested)?

Hiya Zzini and all,

If the flowers get pollinated they'll make seed pods that, when ripe, will pop open and the seeds will float away on tufts (like dandelion seeds do). You'd either have to keep a close eye on them and harvest them just as they're getting ready to pop open, or put some small netting etc on the pods. That's what I do with my stapelias when they make seed pods: I usually put one of those little nylon booties from shoe stores (used for trying on dress shoes when you don't have socks on or have athletic socks on, they're kinda like mini panty hose thing) on the pods and tie them at the back to make a trap for when the pods open up.

I don't use plastic bags as they trap humidity, but any breathable bag will work, panty hose, mini-bootie described above--I've even used a section of those mesh bags that citrus sometimes comes in.

Good luck and keep us posted. I really like this plant!
Thanks for the fun discussion,
Grant

I just purchased two Giant Milkweed, Calotropis gigantea, here: http://www.givernygardens.com/. I also found you can purchase it here: https://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/calotropis_gigantea.htm.

I just thought it would be cool to have a variety of milkweeds in garden. I have Scarlet milkweed and Common milkweed. Now I have Giant Milkweed. I have been reading about it. One sight says it does not like to share root space. It also gets quite big.

Today I planted one as the backdrop feature. The other one I was going to put at the back of my 1st established garden along the fence. I am rethinking that. We will see.

Here are my pictures:

1. established garden (currently thoroughly munched).

2. Four milkweed plants awaiting planting. Not much left of that third from the front.

3. My planted Giant Milkweed. This is the new area of my garden. I am considering moving the Rosemary. Very happy with my Holy Basil placement. Notice the circle of rocks to the right? That's my butterfly sandy basin watering hole.

4. The plant to the left is a Holy Basil, Tulsi. It grew like crazy in my Tower Garden. I now have three of them. I'm going to make sure it's healthy and then give it to a friend. The big guy is my second Giant Milkweed. Not sure where to put it right now. Midsection of the fence? A giant pot? I will ponder.

Had fun posting this. I could use more information about the big guy. How big will he really get? I can take bush. Bush is good. I saw some pictures on the internet that looked more like tree. Does it really like to root by itself? Milkweed is a weed of sorts. Is this then a bush weed or a weed tree? How does a weed get to be a tree?

So many questions.

I've had a Calotropis procera in the ground for five years. It gets about 7 feet tall before it gets so leggy that the branches droop down or get blown over. At that point I cut it to the ground and let it start over. A hard frost will also kill it to the ground, but it will grow back.

I see the butterfly caterpillars have been feasting on yours. That's why I planted mine.