Growing Native Milkweed in Florida

We all know that the Monarch butterfly needs milkweed. I’ve been trying to grow my own native milkweed in my Florida backyard for two years now.

Last year I purchased some mail order plants, and also bought a few I found locally. They were all doing pretty well, and I was excited. I also had some tropical milkweed (the bad kind) that fed the butterflies. The milkweed bugs took care of removing the seeds, so I didn’t have to worry about it spreading. I also cut it down at the end of the season, as you should if you grow this type.

Over winter we had an unusual cold spell that killed a lot of things. Even now, in June, the palm trees are still showing dead fronds. I lost three of my larger milkweed plants – one remains. And I have this white milkweed.

I don’t remember seeing milkweed pods last year. I’m sure I would have saved some seeds if I had. But this year, the little white milkweed plant grew five pods. I’ve been checking those pods for weeks and just recently one of them split and began to open.

I planted a few of the seeds in buckets with my compost dirt. The rest of the seeds have been saved. When the other pods begin to open, I will save more seeds from another pod. The remainder I’ll leave alone and let Mother Nature do her thing.

The remaining larger milkweed will hopefully get pods this year as well. I’ll do the same thing with the seeds from it.

Florida’s native milkweed types are not very easy to grow. And they grow slowly! I’m convinced they do best in their own natural space – like out in a field or near a swamp. But I do get monarch butterflies in my yard and I’d love to have milkweed for them.