Really pretty pictures - I really like the rudbeckia - is that an annual one?

Thanks, Sarena. That's an annual. It's a R. hirta.

WOW Piti! The flower is really nice. Can't wait to start that one and add it to my 'collection'. :O) I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I discovered 3 unnamed Asclepias growing in the gardens - winter sown 2008/2009.

I have Don's Ruds too. Mine came back for another show this year so I'm quite happy about that.

(Robyn and Robert send a warm 'Hello!!'.)

Just beautiful! Awesome pics!

I guess there are different varieties of this flower. I thought that was known as the butterfly weed..must have them mixed up. I found my note where I was looking at Hello yellow asclepias tuberosa..that's the butterfly weed. It comes in yellow and orange flowers. I know the orange flowers are more familiar and seems like a lot of people grow this variety/color, as I see it on a lot of people's trade list of seeds.

Mone, what is the name of that asclepias, I don't think I've ever seen it before, your picture is amazing, so close to an individual flower and yet so clear, great camera work!

Mary

Thank you,everyone.
Mary & Becky, it is Common Milkweed - Asclepias syriaca, that you see along roadside.
I had wanted it in my garden for years.
Three years ago it just showed up in my garden, courtesy of the wind, I suppose.
It is spreading into my neighbor's garden too.
Here's a longer shot of it:
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tiffy_ the Rud is amazing, isn't it? I have a several flowers that are greenish and stunt. I wonder that they might be infected with virus.

beautiful pictures - I have several of the butterfly weed but no common milkweed - would love to have nature deposit some on my property - it is in the area. I think I need to go and collect some seed .....

Lynne

I had no idea they smelled so good!

:)

I used have lots of this but it went a little too nuts out by the garage and I had to keep thinning out and now I only have a little - it has a beautiful candy like scent. I miss that as what little I have left has not bloomed this year.

Mone - I've got a nice good sized clump of Butterfly Milkweed nearby to the Red Beebalm you gave me last fall. The Purple Coneflower is sort of mixed in between the two and it's been a butterfly and insect magnet.

Does any one have picturs of the different milk weeds?
Every year I try to grow it, and it never sprouts for me.I have been trying to get a butterfly garden going,with little luck.
A few things have come up,( not sure what they are),and I do have some butterflies this year,but it seems a lot of you are having great success with yours.
Any one have a picture of the orange one?
Does it matter what color of butterfly bush you grow?I have 3 white ones,Should I have a few other colors?
I will appreciate all tips you can share with me.

I have a butterfly that is very fast flying,not a lovely fluttering one,any idea what this one would be?
It is small,orang,black,and another color,very fast.
I have been told, where we live,there used to be a butterfly, that has compleatly dissappeared,all its native plats have been cleaned out for housing,I would love to have a whole yard just for them.
pippi, your picture is to die for,wish it was in my yard as well,who do you have coming to visit this beauty?
Thanks guys,
cAROL

If you plant 'em, they will come! My first Monarch today on pink swamp milkweed. (I wouldn't have hijacked this thread, but Firefox prevents me from starting a new post) :O(
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Those are awesome shots Mone!!! :D

Hopefully my milkweed spreads too! :D

I totally agree with the scent of milkweeds. It is very intoxication! I love its sweetness! :D

Thanks for sharing your pics! Great shots again!

Wendy,is this the same milk weed as pitimpinai?
All shots are beautiful,can't wait to get some more butterflies.
Thank you for posting such nice pictures.
cAROL

Wendy, is that asclepias incarnata? Mine sprouted but is dying in the garden where all the hollyhocks died too.

I found out why today. My husband used roundup to clear the back of the garden of weeds. Well, it did. I asked him if he had used too heavy a concentration because nothing is growing in there, not even the weeds. He checked and informed me he'd accidentally used a weed spray with a soil sterilizer.

UGH! Any suggestions on what to do. I've got about five lupine and eight asclepias in there. Still alive, but not growing. Should I take them out, dig out the dirt and replace it? Would tilling in compost be enough?

Caryl

Mone, I think I'll keep an eye on the milkweed growing at the end of my road, and collect the seeds in the fall. Thanks for sharing, I never realized it was that pretty!

for cAROL, just1morehosta, I found a site for you.

YAY, I have Asclepias physocarpus Hairy Balls growing, I hope they develop into plants large enough to produce the seed pods, so far the summer has been hot enough. The site here doesn't show it but Onalee's has it on her site.

Mary

Here is a link that might be useful: Asclepias

Yup, just googled it an it is asclepias incarnata. I have a white variety of it just about to bloom.

It's not the same as piti's..hers is the "wild" asclepias syriaca. That seems to be the one that monarchs prefer to lay eggs on. I have yet to find a caterpillar on mine. Thank goodness they've stopped mowing and spraying along the highways, because you can really see the milkweed coming back!

Caryl, I'd dig them up and pot them up in fresh soil for awhile, until you see something growing in that patch again.
I overwintered some asclepias tuberosa (an annual here) in my garage last winter, and they are out in the garden just starting to bloom!

Very pretty, wendy. I would love an orange Asclepias too.
I sowed all the seeds I received from trades last winter. They all germinated and I planted them all over the garden. Hope they won't get swamped by their neighbors. :-)

This year I have seen Yellow Tigers, Painted Ladies and some small yellow ones but no monarchs yet.

Thank you, Mary, for posting the link. That's a great reference.

Ronneil, you'll get a lot more next year. :-)

I saw a butterfly on one of my coneflower plants the other day, but I don't know my butterflies to tell you what it was. I wasn't up that close to even be able to recognize or describe it's color or markings. One of my neighbor moved in 2 yrs. ago and that was the first thing she bought was a butterfly bush and I wonder if they have found it yet. It's planted at the corner of her sunroom and I don't think she uses that room much in the summer and she goes in/out by the garage door so she probably is missing her butterflies if they have found it.

Took me three years, but finally grew an orange..
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This is the one I overwintered, not much bloom yet, but I'll be digging this one up again this fall, as I don't think the tuberosa survives our winters.
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I'm with doris...I had to literally get up from the couch, and go out and SNIFF them!
WHOA! I had NO idea! I have other things that waft wonderful scents around my garden, but I never knew MW did! Thanks!

I have winter-sown lots of different species of Asclepias - with varied success. Some are very slow to grow. The purple milkweed, A. purpurascens, WS'n 2008 is still only a foot tall.

The only one blooming right now is the orange butterfly weed (A. tuberosa) - both the plants I purchased a few years back and the plants winter-sown in 2008, which are getting to a decent size. Here's my biggest A. tuberosa (this one not WS'n). This milkweed is great, will grow in very dry conditions. It has also self-sown a couple of babies!

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I LOVE this thread!
Thanks, terrene for the "very dry conditions" comment...now I know what to move to a "hole" in my garden that has just that type of real estate!

For two years now, I've been trying to grow milkweed, various ones from seed. I even collected common seed from our pond areas. I think I finally have sprouts large enough to plant, but NO WAY are they near blooming.

I was getting discouraged.

But seems like they need years to bloom??

I thought they would grow faster, since "weed" is in the name...

Poor butterflies in my yard will have to settle for whatever else is in bloom.

I found swamp MW to be the easiest for me. Here it is in 2008 (that green blob in back & right of the bright pink phlox (which is "Sandra" btw) just before it bloomed...pic taken July 20.

Common wasn't as easy for me, but I found a volunteer in my garden last year, and let it go. This year I have a LOT in that one area. I'll let you know in a couple years if it was a good idea to leave it or not LOL.

Tuberosa I gave up for dead one year...must have been in 2007 or 2008...and it showed up last year in the spot where I guess I dumped the "failed" container. And I managed to not pull it out in the fall cleanup (thinking it was a weed), and I found it again yesterday in the same spot. Cool.

And Gay Butterflies I nearly forgot about until the other day when I found the container. Must get that planted out asap (I was in the middle of something else at the time, so didn't do it.)

Don't give up on them!

I too, love this thread.
So much information.

Mary, thank you for that link, I remember looking at it before, but had forgotton about it, this time, I bookmarked it.:0)

I mayhave to buy the plant,since I am having such a hard time getting it from seed, I did see it early in the season, at home depot, but I thought, Naa,I have it starting from seed, wish now I would have bought it.

Love all the Pictures as well.
cAROL

so that one with the orange flower is also a milkweed? Is the fragrance as strong as the violet? The fragrance of violet I encountered was really intoxicating! :)

might help if I actually attached that pic...
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Austin, the ones that have bloomed fastest from seed for me are the orange milkweed above and like MMQ said, the Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata). I've got lots of A. incarnata 'Ice ballet' WS'n seedlings this year, but not sure if any will bloom this year or not? Don't be discouraged though, even if your milkweed hasn't bloomed yet, Monarch butterflies will still use smaller plants to lay eggs for their caterpillars - they seem to like the young plants very much for this purpose.

V1, yes the one with orange flowers is a milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa, "butterfly weed", which grows in dry prairies and roadsides, etc. Unfortunately it is not fragrant. The only one I know is fragrant is common milkweed - and what a heavenly fragrance! It does like to spread by runners though, and mine pop up here and there in odd places and I usually let it grow.

Took a walk down the road last evening to smell the milkweed.
I brought home one stem with a few flowers and buds and put it into a small vase. OH MY GOODNESS, it perfumed my entire house, it smells so pretty! Who knew this humble "weed" was such a treasure. Thank you!

Mary

Yeah! Mary. It smells good, doesn't it? :-)

Yesterday, I went canoeing with my husband up the Chicago river. The launch was in the Chicago Park District. Guess what the Park District had by the launch?
A small prairie garden full of prairie plants including at least 4 different Asclepias! I'll have to remember to go by there later to snatch some seeds. lol