Asclepias is tap rooted, so digging up a mature plant usually doesn't work, You need to start with a seedling or collect the seed - it's a prolific seeder once established.

I bought mine initially from Well Sweep Herb Farm which does do mail order althoug they are local for me. It's an amazing place that sells close to 2,000 different plants.

I wouldn't buy anything from Spring Hill - it's a notoriously bad mail order nursery.

That other garden website known as dave's has an extensive list of mail order nurseries that are rated by the thousands that use the site.

It's fairly easy to start from seed if you want to try that.

jesus david ...

come on down towards tecumseh... and they line the roads for hundereds of miles ... kinda hard to miss for the lat few weeks ....

plan a trip at seed time... and you could probably fill the trunk with seed .. lol ...

or head up to 96 and check out arrowhead alpines .... see link

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

I see a lot of Asclepias syriaca along the roadways, but not Asclepias Tuberosa. Is it blooming now? Maybe I'm looking at the wrong times.

I've read what a2zmom said - digging up a mature plant just doesn't work. I've been eyeing some of the roadside Asclepias syriaca, and am going to throw a shovel in the trunk, but will keep that in mind.

I can never get enough of these. My originals came from, of all places, my grocery store! I got them three years ago because I never found them anywhere else, and now the only way I get more is by collecting and sowing seeds.

I bought my original plants years ago from the local nursery - 'Gay Butterflies' and 'Hello Yellow'. However, I think only 1 original plant has survived because they've moved around a couple times. One time I transplanted them (it can be done) and one time they had to be moved because the town was putting a sidewalk in front of my house. That was when I lost 2 of them I think.

But I also have some 3 year seedlings, one of which is yellow, and about a half dozen seedlings that were winter-sown this year from the yellow plant.

These plants are slow to establish from planting, transplanting, and from seed so buying the largest plants you can find at a local nursery may be the way to go if you are the impatient type.

If you dig some up from the roadside I wouldn't do it until after they've gone to seed and are going dormant! Get as big a rootball as you can, they have deep tuberous roots and disturb as little as possible. And scatter some seed behind you to hopefully replace what you're removing... :)

A. tuberosa and A. syriaca bloomed at the same time in my "xeric" garden. Took this pic late June -

This post was edited by terrene on Wed, Jul 10, 13 at 12:04

Boy, I would sure go from seed over plants from a store. I've never seen one in a store that didn't look really terrible, and if you have roadsides of seeds close by, then go for it!

Despite what you've been told, these are very easy to dig. I have never lost a plant that I dug from the wild. If you dig deep and get a large amount of the roots, they will live. In fact, I have dug them from a field in July. They wilted and dried up; however, the following Spring those very plants grew and flowered from the roots.

However, they are so easy to start from seeds. I have provided a link to seeds from Swallowtail Seeds. At the bottom is the orange variety. If you do decide to order the 'Gay Butterflies' mix, it does include quite a large amount of orange in the mix. There is far more orange than red or yellow. I was actually disappointed that there weren't more yellow and other colors besides orange in the mix.

Soak the seeds over night and barely press the seeds into the soil. They need light to germinate. My seeds of 'Gay Butterflies' bloomed the first year. I started them early though indoors under a light and transplanted later.

You can order plants at prairienursery.com as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Swallowtail Seeds

its the orange ones lining the roads near tecumseh ....

the milkweed ones.. are lining my driveway ... lol

now.. the best thing about this post.. is i never put 2 and two together.. to understand the plants we are talking about.. are related.. go figure .. maybe that is why they are blooming at the same time...

darn latin names mean things.. whats that all about.. lol ..

its 326 pm... learned my one thing for today.. back to bed it is.. lol ...

ken

Thanks everyone. I didn't know Spring Hill was a bad. I've ordered several ferns from them and all have done well except one. Either way, I'll definitely check out some of these sources. And Ken - I've seen these things all over (especially along 96 by milford) but I thought I'd try to find them online or somewhere before I start looking like a crazy person digging up stuff along a highway exit lol

I had a nice size one for about 5 years and for some, unknown reason, it did not return this spring. The original plant came from Brecks, I think. My neighbor put in an order and I ordered it then. She bought two. Since then, she's divided hers and move them all over the place. I keep reading about how hard they are to move, with the large tap root and all, and every time she moves some of hers somewhere else, they never miss a beat. I bet she thinks I'm giving her bad advice about that awful big tap root!

This year, when I knew mine definitely was not going to make an appearance, she gave me a piece of one of her plants to replace it. The weather was hot and dry at the time, and I kept it well watered. It wilted a bit initially. but is doing just fine now. Of course we've had rain here every day for the past two weeks, so that has probably helped quite a bit. All that extra rain is coming to an end today, so I will have to be using the watering can again and checking on it to see if it needs a drink.

I've saved seeds every year in case someone needed them, but I didn't know they were easy to start from seed. I need to remember that! Thanks for all the info on this wonderful plant.

Linda

Oh, and I did see them blooming last weekend along the highways here in western PA.

Also, Ken... i second the "darn latin names" sentiment... i can't really even say this one lol

This is a good place to get natives from. I have had very good luck with them.
http://www.prairienursery.com/store/#.UeCQ1dLVCSp

There is another too, but for the life of me I can't remember the name!

I received some three years ago on the gardenweb plant exchange forum. They had been wintersown. Here they are, finishing up their blooming, staying in a compact somewhat short clump. They are in poor soil--heavy clay that either floods or bakes into a hard impenetrable hunk of cement.

Generally I do not think this species does well in clay, however there is a variety that performs well in clay soils, Asclepias tuberosa var. clay.

I was actually disappointed that there weren't more yellow and other colors besides orange in the mix.

I am dying of curiosity to find out if any or all of the 5 seedlings I started this year from the yellow plant will also bloom yellow! I may see a small bloom on some of the seedlings the first year, otherwise the rest will probably bloom in the 2nd year.

I have Asclepias verticillata and Asclepias purpurascens, so far those are the only ones that will grow in my garden. I got some Asclepias tuberosa seeds that I plan to wintersow.

I purchased 6 nice dormant roots from Fedco in Maine several years ago. All are gorgeous and blooming now in my meadow.

I've been continuously looking at all of these places and several others. I'm sure, out of impatience, I'll order some for fall planting... I really don't think I can go without lol

thanks again everyone!