In my experience butterfly weed is a pretty durable perennial, however it likes a well-drained soil and perhaps requires that over the winter.

think of it this way... soil warmth is the trigger.. and its deep rooted plant.. and until the nights quit going near 30 .. the depth of soil heat is not happening ... and it wont show.. until you have soil heat at depth ...

ken

i have one in the middle of a flowering almond.. lol ...

ken

No problem in that regard. Specifically, each fall I mark each plant put in the ground that growing season with a 6" white plastic 'stake'. And so next spring I know something is expected to grow in the area.

I am a little concerned about your plant near the foundation - I would expect any plantings close to a house foundation or similar structure (south side of stone wall for example) to be in a warmer microclimate and be further along.

However, there is also natural variation within a species too - some individuals are earlier growers/bloomers than others.

If I make the assumption that my two will return maybe the delay is in part due to its 'youth' i.e. this was only its first winter.

This year, they came back in March, which is crazy, but it's a crazy winter and the roots were probably more established.

Paul

Terrance

Terrance

I planted the two plants last summer. A few orange flowers but not many.

(I thought all butterfly weeds gave forth those outstanding *orange* flowers?)

Paul

I just checked the xeric garden this morning, as it started to drizzle (yippeee rain!). The 3 most mature clumps are the ones that are up, 2 are orange and 1 yellow. But I know there are some smaller plants in that garden and they aren't up yet. So perhaps when they are small, they're slower?

As for the other milkweeds, it is variable, some are up (A. syriaca and A. exaltata) and some aren't (A. purpurascens, A. variegata).

I am the OP and just this past weekend I finally had one of the plants barely break through the soil and so it will be fine but nothing from the other. Oh well 1 out of 2 aint bad ;)?

Rouge glad to hear one of yours showed up. The other one still might too!

Asclepias is a weird genus of plants and not all that easy to grow. They can be fussy about location, attract a bunch of different insects which can degrade the quality of the plant (Monarch larvae being an exception, of course!), get strange wilts and fungus, some of them spread by runners and show up in different places each year, and the occasional critter will chomp it down. But they're beautiful, and I love raising Monarchs.

Yes echinacemaniac I have seen your beautiful spring 2012 pictures. For me I wont see anything like this until probably early to mid June!

Karen

I literally had a trowel in my hand and was about to dig out the area in question to make way for an Astranti I had bought this past weekend and lo and behold on May 14 I think I see nubs of new growth! If I am correct then I might see blooms in....September? ;)

My asclepias purpurascens is the first to bloom every year. It looks great right now. (links to my blog photo of it) The blooms are huge and the plant doesn't fall over after heavy rain.

The tuberosa (orange) have buds and will bloom next.

My incarnata (swamp milkweed in white and pink) foliage is up early this year, but no buds yet.

i've seen one Monarch so far. I usually see many more in August rather than spring/early summer.

Cameron

Cameron - that Purple Milkweed is pretty! I'm planted out a few seedlings of that one this spring and I'm anxious to see them bloom.

Cameron

Asclepias can be slow and unpredictable, especially when they are small. I still have some A. tuberosa, variegata, and purpurascens that hasn't showed yet, although the largest plants of these species have showed.

Wonbyherwits, your purple milkweed is very pretty. Can't wait to see those bloom in my garden. There are 2 stalks that look like they might bloom this year, although I would have had the first one last year, except a critter nipped the top right off. Probably a dumb deer (don't have a terrible problem with them though).

Rouge - asclepias tuberosa is difficult to move unless it's very young. Long taproot on older plants! You might consider collecting seeds (when you see silky threads in the burst pods with dried seeds). The seeds need cold stratification, so I sow them when the seeds would naturally drop from the plant. Mark the spot where you sow the seeds.

Cameron

(Last summer I successfully transplanted "Sea Holly"...tap root and all)

Interesting -- the cats were in the blooms of the purple milkweed. I don't usually see them on the blooms (just the leaves), but they were very active. Clearly, they've been eating well because they're big enough for me to see.

I checked my incarnata and tuberosa varieties and didn't see any cats on those (so far).

Cameron

Yes I think it was one of those dumb young deer that nipped off the tip of the purple milkweed and then spit it out, because it was laying on the ground! I had a Momma and 3 babies frequenting the back yard last year.

Rouge, I transplant A. tuberosa all the time. If you can get as much of the root system as possible in a large root ball (probably not hard if they are small), then you can certainly transplant. A. tuberosa is slow growing to begin with, and transplanting will set it back. Also, sometimes I get re-sprouting from pieces of root left behind.

Went out this evening and took photos. I counted six caterpillars on this clump of purple milkweed.

Cameron