Aquatic Milkweed (Asclepias perennis)

Also known as: white swamp milkweed

Quick Facts

• Type: wildflower
• Size: 1-2 ft tall
• Sun: part
• Water: high
• Soil: Wet, shady soils; floodplains
• USDA zones: 8-11

Delicate white flower clusters in the shade garden, a rare trick for a milkweed.

One of the few milkweeds that blooms in shade; keep it moist and monarchs will find it.

In the Landscape

One of the only milkweeds for the shade garden — lovely along moist woodland edges, in floodplain gardens, and in shady rain gardens.

Care & Propagation

Plant in part shade in soil that stays moist, and mulch to hold that moisture through dry spells. In mild winters it may stay evergreen; cut back any frost-damaged stems in spring.

Sow seeds in fall or spring, or root stem cuttings in summer. Keep new plants consistently moist — unlike its dryland cousins, this one never wants to dry out.

Wildlife Value

A monarch host plant that brings monarchs into shady corners other milkweeds can't reach, and its delicate white blooms also feed small bees and butterflies.

🌱 Fun fact: In frost-free parts of South Florida it can bloom nearly year-round, offering monarchs a host plant in every season.

← Browse all Florida native plants

🌴 In Florida

One of the few milkweeds that blooms in shade; keep it moist and monarchs will find it.

🌿 Keep exploring

More Florida natives worth meeting:

• Alligator Flag (Thalia geniculata)
• American White Waterlily (Nymphaea odorata)
• Anisescented Goldenrod (Solidago odora)