Interesting thread, Adamark! That fluff always drives me crazy, and it's good to know it's not necessary to remove it, though I probably still will if I'm giving the seeds away. Sunrisedigger, I have Asclepias tuberosa 'Gay Butterflies' in several places in the garden, but here are my favorite combinations. Butterfly Weed with Geum 'Fireball'. The Geum is usually just finishing up as the Butterfly Weed is starting to bloom. Butterfly Weed with Daylily 'Black Eyed Stella' Asclepias tuberosa with Gaillardia 'Oranges & Lemons' Hope this helps some! Bonnie

In our community gardens, a wide variety of milkweeds are offered to the Monarchs. Every year they are covered with cats during different times of the year. It's very common to find a chrysalis hanging from a garden border 2x6 or from horizontal vine supports or any number of different plant stems. It is extremely rare to find any of them on the host plants though, as the little cats seem to want to wander off to do their magic. I'm sure there are predations, but I've photographed any of the beautiful little encasinga and even had the privilege of watching the last instar unzip into the bright green chrysalis. Up until that point I wasn't sure exactly how it happened and it was amazing and surprisingly quick! It takes me a bit of searching to find them at this point because they are so well camouflaged.

i suspect that most people who have trouble growing asclepias are guilty of dandling & over-fertilizing it. that's the only explanation i have, given how abundantly mine reseeds and how vigorously they grow. mine live in pots in sunny spots and never get watered or fed... i think they need well-drained soil (no problem!), lots of sun, and no attention. TRYING to grow them might be your problem... try NOT to grow them! i'm growing some interesting varieties from seed the first time this year.

I doubt if OP is still around, but this reminds me of the ways in which at least some of our native plant purveyors do a disservice to would-be gardeners with their exaggerated and especially, inacurate claims as to nativeness of a given plant. I too live in Wisconsin, and I can't count the number of times-for example-that I've been reading some nursery's listings of native plants for our area, only to see river birch listed, and paper birch not listed. Here in eastern WI, that's just flat-out wrong, and all of the people trying to grow river birch in our too-alkaline soils will be forever dissapointed. Meanwhile, the truly native paper birch is never mentioned. And I do mean never. Sure, it's got some insect problems, but so do most species if they're not carefully sited. And at least it does like the general conditions found up and down the state-here on the eastern half. I suspect much the same goes on with butterfly weed. Beautiful plant, it's got the word butterfly in its name, etc....so everybody is fooled into thinking it's an appropriate choice for where they live. Here in WI, it's only ever really happy in the more western, sandy counties. OP, being in the Milwaukee area, would most likely be in a heavier loam soil, quite good for a wide range of plants, but not at all good for butterfly weed. I'm tip-toeing around here a little bit on this issue. It's one of my pet peeves, and in truth, I know exactly how things got this way, and furthermore, I know who the main players are. Yes, they have a stake in people spending money on plants, whether adapted to their locations or not. Much as with the prairie thing, now everybody around here thinks WI was all prairie-a ridiculous notion here in the state that brought us the legend of Paul Bunyan-the same people and forces are responsible. Sorry, but it's the truth. +oM