Rhonda I'm growing one plant. I sowed 6 seeds and ended up with one. I'm growing it in a pot and it's doing very well. It has soft leaves, softer then curassavica. The Monarch cats absolutely love it. They chewed it down to a stick, and were still laying on it. I had to move a little cat that was eating the leafnodes to a bloodflower. The plant has started to recover and is showing developing flower buds. I'm sure they would do great planted in the ground in Florida. Mine had its growth disrupted so I think it would have been a lot taller. The is another Gomphocarpus species that's almost identicle to G. physocarpus, but smaller, it's Gomphocarpus fruticosa. I don't know if you've heard of the tropical milkweed tree, Calotropis gigantea. They can get 13 ft. tall in a tropical climate. The leaves are so fleshy that the Monarch cats make their crysalises right on the leaves. I don't know how high lizards can jump or if they would jump leaf to leaf. There is another Calotropis species that is again almost identical to C. gigantea, but with much more fragrant flowers called Calotropis procera. I'm going to attempt starting the Calotropis indoors to get a big headstart in my cold climate. Hope I answered a few of your questions. If there's anything else, let me know. I really love this hairy balls milkweed. It has beautiful flowers and beautiful leaves and the Monarch cats crave it.

Rhonda, I'm not sure if they make taproots. I'm growing my one plant in a pot. Someone on here told me they did well in pots. I started the seeds late, and then the Monarch cats ate it down to a stick. There are flower buds forming so I'm hoping to see those before the weather ends its growth. Pretty sure I won't have enough time to get viable seeds. I may try at least one plant in the ground next year. They are really cool plants!

I always put mine in the ground. They just seem to grow a lot faster that way. Here, they freeze and don’t come back. But I always have some seedlings popping up the next Spring. Currently some of mine have hardly any leaves left, so the “hairy balls” stand out in all their glory. My neighbor asked what on Earth this is. She about choked laughing when I told her. I suppose you could put a baggy around the seed balls to catch the seeds before they fly off and plant themselves wherever they want.

Rhonda: Please keep us updated on how your Balloon MW does. I tried to spread my wings this year and started swamp/incarnata and common/syriaca MW, but it seems they just aren't loving our heat and humidity -- or, perhaps it's just a year 1 thing. And with all the aphid colonies absolutely swarming the swamp, tuberosa and tropical MW, I'm ready to try something the aphids don't love. (Iris and Jay: any aphid issues to speak of?)

I haven't seen these sold at local nurseries; but, then, I haven't ventured to the more niche, 'native' places either.

Javi, mine do have aphids. Not as bad as the common though. And they started later on them.

It’s weird how hard it sometimes is to grow “native” natives. As in they are not only native to North America, but my State. I have tried Poke milkweed 5 times. 10 plants total. I think my last one kicked the bucket now, too. The longest lasted 1.5 years.

I wonder why that's the case, Iris, that it's difficult to grow natives. I traded a number of emails with a reputable local nursery just today, and the rep said 'the native milkweeds fall into that category that makes you go, "Huh?" because they are far more difficult to grow than the non-native varieties.' And she mentioned a lot has to do with seed germination success. And it's because natives are so difficult to grow that more nurseries don't stock them. They keep at it, and she'll let me know if they have a successful crop next spring.