Wife has been raising Monarch butterflies this summer. I stopped at a
vacant lot on the way home from work Friday-a-week-ago to pick a couple
of milkweeds to feed her caterpillars, and I noticed this field had a
*lot* of different wildflowers amongst the grass and red clover.
Including Asclepias tuberosa, which I've never seen growing up here
(Minnesota) Much prettier than the swamp milkweeds and common milkweeds
that are everywhere. I made a mental note where the plants were so I
could find them in a month or two to collect seeds.

We went there Monday evening and found 2 caterpillars and half dozen
eggs -- on the ugly common milkweeds. They are in the terrarium now.

Tuesday I drove past the field and it had been mowed. :-(

I have read that A. tuberosa is hard to transplant; I'm wondering if
that might just be the seedlings. Went to wildflowers.org and it says
they are best propagated by root cuttings. They take several years to
bloom from seed, so I know these plants have been there for a while and
one or two mowings won't kill them. Just wonder if anyone has tried
transplanting them from the wild, or sliced one up into root cuttings?

Thanks,
Bob

zxcvbob wrote in
:

I have read that A. tuberosa is hard to transplant; I'm wondering
if that might just be the seedlings. Went to wildflowers.org and
it says they are best propagated by root cuttings. They take
several years to bloom from seed, so I know these plants have been
there for a while and one or two mowings won't kill them. Just
wonder if anyone has tried transplanting them from the wild, or
sliced one up into root cuttings?

Interesting. I wouldn't have thought root cuttings would be a good
idea because of their taproot.

I purchased A. tuberosa seeds in a packet at the store a few years ago.
I planted them in seedling containers, waited til they came up and grew
for a month or so, then planted them (gently, so as not to disturb the
taproot) in the garden. They grew and established the first year and
bloomed the second year. Overall the process was extremely easy.

Dee

zxcvbob wrote:
....
Tuesday I drove past the field and it had been mowed. :-(

I have read that A. tuberosa is hard to transplant; I'm wondering if
that might just be the seedlings. Went to wildflowers.org and it says
they are best propagated by root cuttings. They take several years to
bloom from seed, so I know these plants have been there for a while and
one or two mowings won't kill them. Just wonder if anyone has tried
transplanting them from the wild, or sliced one up into root cuttings?

very easy to grow from seed given the right
conditions. also greenhouses will sometimes
carry them as they are rare or endangered
plants (in some areas).

if you don't get any seeds give me a holler
towards the end of the season and i can post
some to you from our plants.


songbird

I planted Asclepias tuberosa from root cuttings and small pots (both
worked fine). The original plants have died--they aren't long lived, in my
experience--but they are now established on my property by reseeding.
Sometimes they pop up in the oddest places.

This year for the first time I have the yellow cultivar ("Hello Yellow")
blooming in the garden from transplants I set out last year.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

"Yes, swooping is bad."

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