12/31/2023 0 Comments Showy milkweed seedlings![]() ![]() Each spring Monarchs move across the United States, laying eggs on native milkweed, the only plant that serve as food for newly hatched monarch caterpillars. ![]() The milkweed plant ( Asclepias spp.) plays a critical role in the monarch life cycle. The sale of each packet of milkweed seeds directly supports the continued, on-going research of Arizona Milkweeds for Monarchs organization, a dedicated volunteer citizen science research organization that is overseen by professional scientists from Northern Arizona University. Terroir Seeds is proud to be the exclusive partner in offering these unique milkweed seeds to home gardeners. Over the past five years it has been test-grown in different elevations to verify the vigor and adaptability to different conditions. It is hand-grown across central and northern Arizona, hand-harvested, hand-cleaned, and hand-packed. This milkweed seed is the highest quality available anywhere. The floss is the mechanism for seed dispersal. It is used in Life Jackets or as a stuffing material. Milkweed pods contain a seed floss that is used to stuff pillows or mixed with other fibers to make a cloth. If you find a state that has areas with climate and conditions similar to yours, then that milkweed will most likely do very well for you. Refer to the USDA map link and please realize that a milkweed species can grow and thrive outside of the areas listed if the conditions are favorable.įrom that link, you’ll see the states shown where the milkweed is native. The range of these milkweed species is not limited to Arizona but in most cases the entire southwest and beyond. May through September Will These Grow in My Area? This showy, pink-flowered milkweed is distinctive as having the largest flowers of any species of Asclepias in North America. The stout stems have opposite spade-shaped leaves that are fuzzy on both sides with rather woolly hairs below. The cold treatment will help to break the dormancy of the seed.This widespread milkweed is a stout single to multi-stemmed plant with large opposite leaves that terminate in several umbels near the top of the stem with large pink to purplish flowers. If sowing Milkweed seeds indoors or in a greenhouse, refrigerate the seed for 2 months before sowing. The cold, dormant planting will aid the germination of the seed in spring when temperatures warm. It is appropriate to sow Asclepias seeds outdoors after the frosts of fall have begun. ![]() Growing Showy Milkweed from flower seed is very rewarding. ![]() It is a very versatile plant that is easily grown from flower seeds! Milkweeds (especially Asclepias speciosa) supply tough fibers for making cords and ropes, and for weaving a coarse cloth. People have also used milkweed for fiber, food, and medicine all over the United States and southern Canada. It's perfect for home landscaping and use in the butterfly garden or prairie meadow, and it attracts hummingbirds as well. Showy Milkweed Asclepias is an ornamental native wildflower. Plants grow to 40 inches tall and have large, round clusters of pink flowers. It can be found along ditches and roads as well as in moist sites of meadows and fields. It is quite drought tolerant after its second year of establishment as the root system is not well-established the first year after growing from flower seed. The Showy Milkweed plant, like its relative Butterfly Weed, prefers to be grown in full sun. One plant can form a large clump by its spreading rhizomes. The flowers form on top of the stems and are rounded clusters of rosy-pink flowers. It has up to 40 inch stems and large gray-green oval leaves that can be 5 inches in length. Showy Milkweed (Asclepias Speciosa) - This perennial plant can be easily established by sowing Asclepias seeds. ![]()
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