Whether you plantmilkweed(Asclepias spp . ) for the hoi polloi of flowers or the monarch butterflies , its flaccid , lavender - pink , scandalmongering , orange or greenish blossom add a bright touch to the garden . Planting a motley of milkweed seeds ensure that you appeal hordes of butterflies , bee and hummingbird from springtime to fall to your wildlife - favorable flower garden — and that you feed the stripe cat of the monarch butterfly .
Prepare the Seeds
Milkweed seeds postulate social stratification to burgeon forth . Roll the seeds in a dampish newspaper towel , or place them in moist peat moss , and then put them in a plastic bag . After clear label the seal bag as " milkweed seeds " and date it , put it in a refrigerator for 10 to 12 hebdomad . Before plant the seed , souse them in warm H2O for 24 hours to assure that wet crack through their laborious shells and reaches their bantam embryo .
Plant the Seeds
After stratification , implant the seeds in spring or fall . Fall plantings produce flowers the following spring and summertime . Plant the seeds 1/4 column inch abstruse and 6 to 24 inches aside in a gay , well - drained garden bed or spud them in seed - starting tray .
When usingseed - start tray , utilise moist semen - starting mixing . Scatter the source 1/2 in apart and 1/4 inch late in the premix . Mist the mix thoroughly with water and cut across the tray with clean-cut , plastic material . send the tray in a brightly light up positioning where temperature remain above 70 degree Fahrenheit . When the seedlings come forth from the mix , dispatch the charge card cover .
Whether planting seeds in the garden or indoors , keep the growing medium moistbut not waterlogged as the semen and seedlings develop . Transplant indoor seedlings into the garden when they are 3 to 6 inches tall .
Care for the Plants
Although most milkweed species are not fussy about soil type , having germinate in teetotal , open meadows , they produce more foliage and flowers in well - drained soil enriched with 2 to 3 inch of compost . After planting the seedlings , remain watering the dirt until the plants are established in the garden . Then reduce watering to 1 inch per week or 6 gallons for every 1 substantial yard of garden .
enforce a 12 - 4 - 8 , obtuse - departure fertilizerin spring , scratching it into the stain open around the plants at a rate of 4 tablespoons for every 4 square feet of plantings . An alternative is to utilize a 24 - 8 - 16 , smooth fertiliser every two months throughout the growing season , mixing it with water at a rate of 1 tablespoon per 1 gallon of water supply for every 10 square feet of soil .
Two to 4 in ofmulchraked over the garden bed , and pulled back 4 inch from each plant ’s stem , facilitate to reduce the drying up of water and to maintain an even wet level in the territory .
Support Monarch Butterflies With Milkweeds
Monarch caterpillars live only on milkweed . Without milkweed leaves , they would famish . Planting milkweed provide home ground and food for the caterpillars and aliment the adult butterflies before they lay out out on their long winter migration to the California coast and central Mexico . Twenty - five native silkweed speciesthrive in U.S. Department of Agriculture works hardiness zones 3 through 9 , bet on the specie . Among the aboriginal milkweeds recommended by theNational Wildlife Federationfor milkweed butterfly butterfly stroke are butterfly stroke weed ( Asclepias tuberosa ) , recurrent in USDA zones 4 through 9 ; common milkweed ( Asclepias syriaca ) ; and the wet - love swamp silkweed ( Asclepias incarnata ) ; common silkweed and the swampland milkweed cultivar ' Cinderella ' are hardy in USDA geographical zone 3 through 9 .
Use Caution With Milkweed
Milkweed plants raise a sticky , milky sap that irritates skin and eye . Protect your cutis and especially your eyeswhen work out with or near milkweed plants by wearing a long - sleeved shirt , long pants , shut - toe shoe , piddle - resistant garden baseball mitt and safety goggles . wash out thoroughly with goop and weewee if you are exposed to the sap and avoid touching your eye . If you get milkweed sap in your middle , even them with water and go to a medical exigency room immediately .
