🦋 Milkweed
Asclepias spp.
Monarch fuel — plant it and the butterflies will find you. They always do.
Sun
Full sun, 6+ hrs
Days to harvest
Perennial; blooms summer
Spacing
18-24 inches apart
Soil pH
6.0-7.5
How to grow
Plant native species for your region — in Florida, that's swamp milkweed (A. incarnata) and butterflyweed (A. tuberosa), not tropical milkweed (A. curassavica), which can harbor parasites that harm monarchs. Seeds need 30 days of cold stratification (or winter sowing); transplants establish faster. Milkweed wants lean soil — too much fertility makes floppy, aphid-covered plants.
Water & feeding
Water to establish; native species are drought-tolerant once settled — swamp milkweed excepted, it likes wet feet.
Common problems
- Oleander aphids — bright orange clusters; blast with water or leave for ladybugs.
- Milkweed beetles and bugs — mostly cosmetic.
- Tropical milkweed concerns — cut it back in fall or replace with natives.
Harvest
Leave the seed pods for goldfinches, or collect seeds when pods split — the silky floss was once used to stuff life jackets.
Nerdy fact: Monarch caterpillars sequester milkweed's cardiac glycosides, making themselves poisonous to birds — the plant's toxins become the butterfly's bodyguards. Eat the bodyguard's food, become inedible: flawless strategy.