A More Elegant Milkweed

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I garden for two main reasons: (1) because I can’t help myself and (2) wildlife. For the wildlife, I do a lot of the normal things: avoid insecticides and herbicides for example. I edge some of the garden beds with fallen limbs and bark – this encourages macroinvertebrates (think bugs and slugs) which attract birds, turtles, lizards, skinks and yes, even snakes. I’m OK with snakes as long as I see them first and can politely avoid them. Just like most of you, I’ve been planting milkweed and raising Monarch caterpillars when I find them. But I have to admit, common milkweed can be pretty unattractive and sprout up where you don’t really want it.

My favorite variety

There’s butterfly weed (Asclepius tuberosa), but some literature suggests that although the Monarchs avidly sip the nectar, the Monarch mommas would rather lay their eggs on other types of milkweed.

Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) also known as rose milkweed or rose milkflower or swamp silkweed or pleurisy root or white Indian hemp is a great alternative that the Monarch momma’s like. Just like common milkweed, it has the milky white sap which is toxic or at least bad tasting to most critters. The Monarch caterpillars eat the milkweed and then become toxic or nasty tasting themselves – a great defensive strategy.

How it grows

Rather that shooting up a stalk here, there and two feet yonder like common milkweed, swamp milkweed forms erect clumps which gradually get larger. Native to the Midwest and hardy in Zones 3 to 6, it can grow three to five feet tall. Although it likes full sun, it grows and blooms in a partly shady spot in my garden which is heavy clay and boggy / soggy until a dry spell and then then the soil turns hard as a rock. Clearly, swamp milkweed is not a fussy plant.

Thanks to the growing interest in native plants, it’s not difficult to find sources for the plants or the seeds. This is a nice plant for a rain garden or at a pond edge. It has a deep taproot, so it’s best to plant it where you want it and then leave it alone. And deer don’t like it so you don’t have to worry about those hungry beasts!

Meet Dona Bergman

Dona Bergman is a founding member, Southwest Indiana Chapter of the Indiana Native Plant & Wildlife Society, and an Advanced Master Gardener.

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