Planning Ahead for the Monarch Butterflies! | Planting Giant Milkweed in the Garden!
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- This will be my first year growing Giant Milkweed. I have had great success with tropical milkweed in the past. So here's hoping the BIGGER THE BETTER!
Can’t wait to see it when it gets bigger
I have a few of these and one thing I want to point out is that it's a dumb plant meaning that it has no sense of symmetry. As it grows it will happily grow unbalanced and flop to the side or sprout branches that grow at odds against other branches, so there's a good chance it may need stakes to help support itself.
I think the plants themselves are infertile bevause I've never seen seeds, and milkweeds have very distictive seed pods.
They are easy to propagate: cut off a branch, stick it in the ground, and it will generslly root and grow.
The problem with the Mexican milkweed is that caterpillars easily devour an entire plant, and I haven't had that problem with the Giant milkweek until this year. No frosts this winter in central Florida, but it was cold and the plants definitely looked weak. Now its getting warm, but they are still growing slower than the caterpillars can eat them. I have 3 plants, 2 are nearly bare and my biggest is half-bare. I have about 15 chrysalises so hopefully after this wave I can catch a break!
Do you think that would survive year-round in Indiana or is that more of an annual here?
It may reseed itself. But I bet it would be more of an annual. I always recommended trying your areas native milkweed species as well
I'm in a Florida and one freeze will kill the leaves and upper branches. I would imagine a full cold winter will destroy it but you have that nice native milkweed with similar large leaves that you can grow.
Do they get aphids like mexican milkweeds?
Where did you get the giant milkweed?
I got it at a master gardener sale.