Also, a milkweed grew in my front yard. However, it didn't flower. Is that normal? I'm hoping it will come back next year.

Some milkweeds are perennial and some are annuals. And that can change depending on what zone you are in. In 6B/7A, where I am, swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is reliably perennial, but others are annual like Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica). I've also found that butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is borderline perennial in my yard, probably because I don't have it in full sun.

Common milkweed can be invasive and a real thug if you let it seed. But the pods are easy enough to cut off before they open and send out seed.

I'm pretty sure what I got is a common milkweed since it was at the area where all weeds were growing. I'm hoping this is fragrant.

What do you think about my question in my second post above?

Neil,

All Milkweed - whatever the kind - has never bloomed in it's first year in my gardens. This includes Curassavica, the Tropical, so for that one I overwinter in the basement to get blooms the following year. My plants are actually going on four years now since I just dig them up every fall to place in the basement. I would not miss the bloom on that one!!

In our zone, most others are perennial. I grow quite a few for the Monarchs.

I've got the native milkweed growing here which I believe is asclepias syriaca. It has dusty pink flowers and the fragrance is out-of-this-world heavenly. I only had 1 flower--the earwigs ate all the other buds--but that flower produced a seedpod 3" long by 1" wide. It just split open last week and it's FULL of seeds. I took pictures of the seedpod & seeds but haven't downloaded them from the camera yet. Still can't post pictures here either and don't know what the problem is.

Not sure why you aren't able to post. Send me the link and I'll try to post it.

Are the common milkweeds fragrant? I took 5 dried seedpods again at the same place. :D

If it is fragrant and I ws it next year, looks like I will be able to enjoy it on 2012. :)

Are they fragrant? Get ready to have your socks knocked off!
I took home a blossom this summer after seeing the gorgeous pic posted by Piti. It filled my house with fragrance, and it lasted even after the blossom dried out. I have my eyes on a couple of pods, I want to grow some plants under my porch windows.

Mary

I'm aware that milkweed is fragrant. I saw a milkweed at one of the camps in Wisconsin and Mackinac Island. I didn't want to leave the place. The fragrance is better than korean lilac.

However, this milkweed I found along Metra Station, I'm not sure if they are fragrant. Are all milkweeds fragrant?

Please see link below. It contains pictures of the milkweed I found last year. :D

Here is a link that might be useful: Milkweed

All the different milkweeds I grow are fragrant, even the wild ones that pop up in areas throughout the yard/gardens. So I would believe the wild milkweed you found along Metra Station will be too.

I pretty much let the wild ones stay where they pop up, since they are a great host plant for the monarchs. Monarchs had a rough winter (where they migrate to had bad weather and lots were lost) last year so they were on the decline this past summer so all the help they can get is great, so the more milkweed the better.

Thanks for the info! :)

This reminds me of another thread I started I think last year or early this year. I posted a flower that I cut from a forest preserve. Someone identified it as sambucus. I really wanted this because the scent was sweet and heavenly. And I can smell it from 20-30 ft away. I wish the id was correct. I'll try to find the thread. :)

Here is the thread I started. Maybe you can id it too to conclude the identification of this plant :)

Plant with very sweet scent

V1, your pictures look a lot like Asclepias syriaca, common milkweed. This milkweed is the most common in the eastern and central US, and has a heavenly fragrance. The 2nd pic looks a bit like A. purpurascens (purple milkweed), which is an uncommon species, and also supposedly has a pleasant fragrance. More likely it is common milkweed though.

I have winter-sown both species, and they are both easy to start from seed. But they are slow-growing perennials and haven't bloomed yet, so I don't know what the purple milkweed smells like. I love the scent of common milkweed though! I raise Monarch butterflies and even if it doesn't bloom, the leaves are still great caterpillar food.