I used ebay seller dogwood@erritter??? I bought 4 Cinderella and 4 tropical milkweed plants for $40

Ditto. Love his plants! I see he only has Asclepias incarnata 'Cinderella' left of the native perennials, though. You might want to e-mail him to see if he has others available or coming along.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: dogwooderitter

Have you tried a local farmer's market or yearly plant sale? I find all kinds of goodies from near and far every weekend here in the warm months. You can also get leads to what you want or special order.

I, too, have ordered from dogwooderitter on ebay. His plants are small but healthy and I've always had excellent service. Email him if you're buying more than one plant. He will charge much less for postage on additional plants if all are to be sent together. I send him a list of the plants I'm buying and he sends back my shipping costs if all are purchased and shipped together.

This year, for the first time, I'm going to see blooms on my A incarnata 'Ice Ballet' plants purchased from him. In my limited experience, this variety appears to have stronger stems than regular A incarnata. Might be something to consider if you're just beginning your butterfly garden.

Mary

Thanks yall.
I have the 4 ice ballet (only 2 are about to bloom) and 4 of the Cinderella, 6 tuberosa that I bought from the local nurseries. That's all they carry around here. I planted some tropical seeds that I received from monarch watch, but haven't seen them yet. I want to get some common milkweed.

I will check him out today! thanks a lot.
The farmers markets here just sell food.
UI try to hit every plant nursery/ garden center whenever I am on the road (even with the hubby telling me I have enough already lol)

You can buy plants at Easy Wildflowers for $5 each. I think folks have ordered from them before, too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Easy Wildflowers

I dug some up from the roadside.

They get more cats than the ones I get at the nurseries, but aphids can be a problem if you do this!

I live in Elberta, Alabama only 8 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Over the years I've bought milkweed plants from various places in the country, but even when the species was native to my area, the plants eventually died because they were adapted to cooler climates. I end up buying Tropical Milkweed, Asclepias curassavica, every year from local nurseries just to feed the Monarch caterpillars, but I sure would love to know of a southern source of any kind of native Milkweed, especially Asclepias obovata.

You must be right by the Panhandle of Florida. What is your zone? Do you see freezing temps?

Have you considered trying Asclepias physocarpa Oscar for your Monarch host? It's not exactly native, but it supposedly gets huge and can support a great deal of cats. It is also compatible with your zone. Takes well from cuttings too.
Deadhead to prevent escape.

Asclepias exaltata, or Poke Milkweed, is a shade tolerant species that will grow in your area.

A. amplexicaulis seems to be prevalent in your region, according to the maps.

Asclepias variegata is another Alabama native.

And finally, there's the Whorled Milkweed, A. verticellata.
This dainty milkweed is most attractive with its miniature green white flowers and whorled, fine foliage.

Here is a source for seeds:
Live Monarch Seed Campaign 2014
3003-C8 Yamato Road #1015
Boca Raton, Fla. 33434

Good luck and order soon, as these seeds are apt to need some stratification.

biophilia- I bought my milkweed plant at UF's butterfly plant sale and it has grown to be huge just in the span of a year. It's a standard tropical milkweed... it's yellow.

Runmeded, That is just terrible to see that field with all that milkweed about to be destroyed. So wrong.

I am glad you are in charge of this on going project. Your dedication is a clear inspiration to me ..

Just let me know when you would like to do it, I am pretty much free during the day. I can meet you there.

Cant wait :)

I don't know when the developer will start construction. This area is close to Dulles Airport so it will probably be developed to the max. There must be over 2,000 plants there.

I will set up some rescues when our weather is better. It is still snowing in this area.

Biophilia, I know of your site in Alabama. <<I sure would love to know of a southern source of any kind of native Milkweed, especially Asclepias obovata>>. I work in coastal Mississippi and am trialing native MS milkweed in 2016, including field collected (in power ROW) 2014 and 2015 A. obovata seed. If we have good germination, we don't need many for the trials and I'll try to remember to contact you.

@pdrackett how are your MS milkweed species coming along?