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, Sep 248 AM – 4 PM
- Fri, Sep 258 AM – 4 PM
- Sat, Sep 268 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.
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