I wintersowed A. tuberosa last year (winter '05 -'06). Germination was low, but I did get 3 nice plants out of them. They're 2 years old now and doing well.

Karen

This was my first year wintersowing and I only had 7 sprouts of asclepias tuberosa germinate, but they have all survived, and all but 2 bloomed already this year.

I've had exceptionally high germination when wintersowing all types of asclepias, especially the orange tuberosa. Not so much on "Hello Yellow" or "Gay Butterflies" though...

Mine was the 'Gay Butterflies', but they all bloomed orange and yellow. No sign of the red that the pictures always show. How about yours, Tracey?

Asclepias germinates best for me when I sow it in late winter/early spring. I don't know why that is, but it's been tested over and over so I think I'm on to something. It also does really well when I summer sow it in 2 liters.

I was sent A. incarnata in two trades last winter and they germinated very well - had more plants than I could use. They 'fed' a good many Monarch caterpillars, bloomed a beautiful pink, and only today I was admiring their seed pods.You should have no trouble in your zone.
Northerner.

I had great luck with WSing BUTTERFLY ASCLEPIAS "BRIGHT WINGS" from Renee's garden seeds and I've been saving seed from the plants too - FUN with all that fluff (smile). Has plenty of red, yellow and orange flowers, in full bloom right now - very pretty. But it wasn't till I went to make the seed packet labels and looked it up to get more info that I discovered it probably won't be perennial in my zone. I guess it is different than regular buttefly weed. Glad I saved seeds. I should have some to share if this next flush of flowers makes seeds and I can catch the "pod" opening before it blows away!

Nancy

Pam,

For me it has been great for winter sowing. I've done both Incarnata and Tuberosa in the last couple of years and love what I'm seeing right now. Actually, this afternoon at 1:30, our first male Monarch was born. On Sunday it was a female. Right now we are keeping a watchful eye on 8 more chrysalis!

The trick is to harvest the pod just as it starts to split open. The fluff is still a tad immature at that point, much easier to handle.