Purple Milkweed
Asclepias purpurescens
The rarest eastern milkweed, with deep purple-magenta flowers and a sweet fragrance. Takes part shade better than most. Stock is always limited.
Typically 1 pint–1 gal · $9–$30 · final price at pickup
- Thu, Aug 138 AM – 4 PM
- Fri, Aug 148 AM – 4 PM
- Sat, Aug 158 AM – 2 PM
The rarest and most beautiful milkweed. deep magenta flowers, part-shade tolerance, and monarch host plant value.
Purple Milkweed is the rarest milkweed in eastern native plant cultivation: it's naturally uncommon across its range and rarely offered by nurseries. The flowers are a deep, rich purple-magenta, considerably more saturated than the pink of common milkweed, and they carry the same sweet fragrance but in a more compact, refined package. Like all milkweeds it's a monarch host plant and a major pollinator resource, but the flower color alone makes it worth seeking out. It tolerates part shade better than most milkweeds, which opens up planting spots that Butterfly Weed or Common Milkweed can't access. In woodland edges, lightly shaded borders, and dappled sun situations, Purple Milkweed fills the milkweed role beautifully where other species would struggle. The rich color photographs exceptionally well. Stock is always limited.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown purple milkweed propagated on-site at Hill House from regional genetics. Includes a one-page care card. We make every effort to supply plants as listed; occasionally we substitute a similar species of equal value.
- Sun
- Full sun
- Water
- Average
- Mature size
- 2–3 ft · 18–24 in wide
- Bloom time
- Midsummer
- Bloom color
- Purple
- USDA zones
- 4–9
- Family
- Apocynaceae
- Native range
- Eastern and central United States, from New England south to Georgia, west to Nebraska and Kansas
Care notes for purple milkweed.
Plant in full sun to part shade in moist to average, well-drained soil. More adaptable to shade than most milkweeds. Does not spread as aggressively as common milkweed. Allow to go to seed for naturalization. Cut back in late fall. Slow to establish from young plants but worth the patience.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside purple milkweed.
Or skip the guesswork.
Curated packages bundle complementary species for an instant habitat. One reservation, one pickup day, a printed layout map.
Short on Space Package
For gardeners who have an abundance of passion but are short on space, this package features tidy, upright, clump-forming natives that behave and function well in small spaces.
Shade Bed Package
Ferns, sedges, and woodland natives that thrive under existing trees.
Birder’s Paradise Package
For the avid bird watchers and budding ornithologists in our community, the Birder’s Paradise Package consists of species that Hill House Nursery staff and longtime native plant advocates such as Doug Tallamy consider ‘premier bird garden plants’.