Mary,
I believe that is just how milkweed behaves. As the season progresses, the leaves and stalks turn yellow and blotchy. The leaves droop and may fall off. I'm sure it would be ideal to leave as much in place as possible, but it would be interesting to see how well they'd bounce back next year if they were cut back once the seed pods were ripe--that's if any pods are forming. Could you cut back some and leave others for a comparison? Take some before and after pictures. Maybe someone will share experiences they've already had. Are there any other wildlife critters that depend on those stems and ragged leaves to get through the next few seasons? Hopefully others will chime in.

Martha

I wish I had more information. All I can tell you is that here (in NE OK which isn't quite as humid as Central AR) what I've experienced so far is that the Tropical and Oscar do well all the way to first freeze. My Incarnata is approaching 7 feet tall and is very very top heavy - it's starting to shed leaves from the main stalk but is fully blooming and leafy across the top. Historically it has deteriorated faster than the other two. This year I also have syriaca/common which has struggled due to the bunnies. I planted whorled, which the bunnies also found and destroyed.

The only seed pods I have so far are on tuberosa, Oscar, and a few very small on tropical.

This isn't much help, huh? Where in Central AR? We lived in Benton/Bryant area for a few years.

~Laura

Here in NJ the wild syriaca looks pretty ugly. The incarnata is still in full bloom, as is the tuberosa, so can't speak to that. It does diminish their value as garden plants, doesn't it? I agree, if you can, run an experiment and see. I would imagine it's best to leave the crummy stuff, since it still may be contributing strength to the plant. If you cut off live growth and it doesn't grow back, you have effectively shortened the plant's growing season. But the only way to know for sure is to put it to the test.

Plant something in front of it!
Liz

Mary,

I have problems with A incarnata that I cut back. One year, I cut off a lot of new growth to give to some teachers who had run out of milkweed. That plant never recovered. Last year, the incarnata looked awful; this year, with all the rain, it is looking good, but hasn't bloomed much. I did cut the tops off of the curassavica to feed all the caterpillars (200+) It is recovering nicely and putting on lots of new growth with new stems, etc. The Purple MW is slow to recover when it is stripped. Oscar seems to handle pruning well. My syriaca is looking bad--like it's trying to go dormant. I've noticed that when it gets hot, a lot of the milkweeds seem to go dormant, especially if there isn't moisture available. They always seem to come back the following year, that is, if the gopher hasn't eaten the roots.

In summary, native milkweeds decline and go dormant after flowering and seed setting, most likely due to low moisture during the hot months of July and August. A viridis in the pastures goes dormant after the seed pods disperse. However, this year is an exception with the rains. The A viridis is coming back and flowering again.

Tropical milkweeds seems to thrive best and recover from pruning.

Sandy