Common Milkweed
Asclepias syriaca
The monarch's essential host plant, with fragrant vanilla-rose blooms in June and July. Best in meadows where its spread is welcome.
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 monarch butterfly's primary host plant. fragrant, bold, and ecologically irreplaceable.
Common Milkweed is the most important plant for monarch butterfly conservation in the eastern United States. Monarchs lay their eggs almost exclusively on milkweed leaves, and the caterpillars can only survive on milkweed foliage, which means that planting Common Milkweed is a direct act of monarch support. The large, dome-shaped flowers in June and July are also intensely fragrant, carrying a sweet vanilla-rose scent that is one of the most distinctive smells in the summer garden. It spreads aggressively by underground rhizomes, which is its natural strategy for colonizing open, disturbed ground, so site it in meadows, naturalized areas, or large wild borders where spread is welcome. In a contained border, rhizome barriers or annual division will keep it in check. The giant, sculptural seed pods that split open in fall to release the silky-plumed seeds are among the most beautiful objects in the native plant calendar.
A nursery-grown plant, ready for the ground.
Healthy, container-grown common 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
- 3–5 ft · 24–36 in wide
- Bloom time
- June–July
- Bloom color
- Pink, Purple
- USDA zones
- 3–9
- Family
- Apocynaceae
- Native range
- Eastern and central North America, from New Brunswick south to Georgia, west to Kansas
Care notes for common milkweed.
Plant in full sun in average to dry soil. Spreads aggressively by rhizomes. ideal in naturalistic plantings with ample space. Install root barriers in formal borders. Cut back in early spring before new growth. Allow seed pods to mature and split naturally. Can be slow to emerge in spring; mark location to avoid disturbance.
Pairs well with these.
Same light, same soil, same wildlife. Janet's picks to plant alongside common 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’.