Bees, there is an old conversation about them on the Native Plants forum. It appears minimum 8 weeks moist cold needed, and sowing and placing outdoors where you can expose them to fluctuating temps may well be the best you could do with them.

Here is a link that might be useful: Asclepias variegata (red ring)

Thank you so much! I hadn't looked under the native forum, I probably should have, lol.

BeesNeeds - you can search the Forums if there's something you want to find. It's not fantastically reliable but that way you don't have to guess where the info might be.

Here is a link that might be useful: Results from typing in Asclepias variegata