Armchair botanizing for Extreme Milkweeds (Asclepias)

[Tim Ingram]

Sadly I planted syraica about about 20 years before Mark's advice! It does spread but our dry climate probably keeps it reasonably under control - in a wilder setting like Rick shows it is very nice to see. I've tried to establish tuberosa several times thinking it would be well suited to our climate, but plants always die out after a few years. There are some good colour variants of this in horticulture though, and maybe more adaptable plants might arise in time - unusually vivid for an asclepias.

[Tony Willis]

Here is Asclepias syriaca  with an eastern tiger swallowtail feeding on it we saw in early July at the Ontario Botanic Gardens. This was a dry area but we saw quite a bit of it growing in the wild in the damp areas.

[cohan]

Nice photos Rick and Tony At my last apt in Toronto, I had one small flower bed in front of my front window, maybe 4x6 or 8 feet; I grew a few things in there, nothing easily stolen or expensive, since it was right on the sidewalk, right downtown, and vulnerable to humans and their danged pets (why do so many dog owners think the world is their toilet?). but there was a pre-existing yucca that flowered spectacularly, and a probably self sown patch of milkweed- it was spreading, but wasn't yet a problem..

[externmed]

Asclepias variegata seems to be scarcely in cultivation.  Anyone growing this.  Seneca Hills did offer, but mine died.
Charles Swanson z6A  MA NE USA