#asclepias humistrata

[anipgarden]

*cracks knuckles* Alright everyone strap in.

Hi, I'm Ani, the appointed Milkweed Queen of several Discord group chats, and I'm gonna talk about some of my favorite types of milkweed because its Earth Day, I'm bored, and I had nothing else ready to post. Everyone ready?

I'm not going to give these a formal ranking, I'm just going to ramble about them.

We all know the important reasons to like milkweed--supporting Monarchs, feeding the pollinators, restoring native species to your local habitat and creating an environment for many creatures to live in, that's all fantastic obviously. With that established, this ranking system will have little to do with that. We're talking aesthetics, babey! And any fun facts I happen to toss in are, well, fun facts. If you learn about a new kind of milkweed from this, or want to chime in with your own favorites, by all means let me know!

Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)! If you've been following my blog for awhile, you likely know I've been on a Grand Quest to find, purchase, and/or grow swamp milkweed for a few years now. Honestly, though, who can blame me! Look at those vibrant pink flowers, contrasting with those bright green leaves! Love at first sight, I'm telling you. I've also heard that it smells like vanilla. Vanilla! It's also, reportedly, one of the few types of milkweed that excels in wet environments, and even though my environment isn't very wet, we stan a queen for that quality.

Whether you prefer to call it Sandhill Milkweed or Pinewoods Milkweed, Asclepias humistrata is a champion of sandy soils and also my heart. I hadn't looked too far into this species until late last year, when I was helping another friend look at different milkweeds, but how could I not look into this beautiful plant! With pink stems and veins as early as the seedling stage, pinkish-white flowers and a low-growing spread habit, I would be honored to grow such a specimen in my garden. Their inch-thick, foot-long tap roots help them to quickly spring back to life after a wildfire, providing important food and habitat for creatures returning to the area. How lovely!

Redring milkweed (Asclepias variegata) is another species I hadn't looked too far into until this year, and honestly at great detriment to myself. I'll be honest! I may have ignored this queen at first because I'm not big on white flowers, but those red rings...! Ooh, I want this so bad. The leaves are also fairly big and a lovely dark green, which just makes the white and red pop out more!

Heartleaf milkweed (Asclepias cordifolia) is honestly so iconic, I wish it was native to my region! If you live on the West coast... grow some for me please. How can you not love this specimen! Dusty green heart-shaped leaves directly attached to pink stems, these stunning deep reddish-purple flower clusters...! I continued following one of the most annoying people I'd ever witnessed on Instagram for two months just because I first saw this species in a tiktok of his.

Purple milkweed (Asclepias purparescens) is honestly just. A queen. What else is there to say? Look how purple she is! So purple I almost can't believe it's even real, and yet they are! Not native to my region, far as I know, which is a bummer. I've heard they're hard to grow, but if you can manage it? Share your secrets with the world, honestly, we need more of this plant in our lives.

Common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) is honestly just a classic. I love the light pink of the flowers, and those leaves are huge! I've heard they spread like wildfire, but with clusters of blooms like this? How can you even be too mad about that?

Showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa). Honestly I'm not going to pretend I was always crazy about this species, but the more I see it pop up on iNaturalist, the more I find myself growing fond of it. These flowers look like crazy fireworks, and honestly, kinda have to stan.

"Oh, Ani, you have so many lovely favorites! Do you have any least favorite--" Tropical milkweed, hands down. I appreciate it's value as more of a 'babys first milkweed' plant but I'm tired of seeing it everywhere, especially knowing it's a bit invasive in my area?

Anyways, these are some of my favorite milkweed species! What are some of yours?

#milkweed #pollinator gardening #asclepias #asclepias humistrata #asclepias incarnata #asclepias syriaca #asclepias variegata #asclepias cordifolia #asclepias purparescens #asclepias speciosa #swamp milkweed #sandhill milkweed #pinewoods milkweed #redring milkweed #red ring milkweed #heartleaf milkweed #heart leaf milkweed #purple milkweed #common milkweed #showy milkweed #gardening #flowers #pink flowers #purple flowers #white flowers #ani rambles #out of queue #pollinator garden

[keithcurrypochy]

Sandhill Milkweed (Asclepias humistrata)

Cross Creek, FL

#Asclepias humistrata #milkweed #wildflowers #botany #nature #photography #Florida #north florida #cross creek

[anipgarden]

*cracks knuckles* Hey everyone!

Lately I've been trying to find information about Sandhill Milkweed, a type of milkweed native to quite a few states in the Southeast region. It's ended up being trickier than I would like, since not a lot of people seem to talk about it or even acknowledge it's existence. Well, it's time to acknowledge it's existence!

Sandhill Milkweed (Asclepias humistrata), also known as Pinewoods Milkweed, is a gorgeous specimen of the Asclepias family that's an excellent host for Monarch and Queen butterflies, thrives in dry soils, and might be the perfect addition to your garden! And I have compiled all of the information I've learned about it into this helpful Google Doc, so you can learn all about it!

This isn't a formal research paper or anything, this is just something I spent way too much time on a few days ago, but I'll be adding to it as people ask questions and I find answers! Feel free to leave comments, or links to more information!

Open your heart and let this funky milkweed in!

#asclepias humistrata #sandhill milkweed #pinewoods milkweed #milkweed #Asclepias #outdoor gardening #pollinator gardening #host plant #pollinator garden #monarch butterfly #gardening #garden #flowers #white flowers #ani rambles #out of queue

[anipgarden]

A Brief Glimpse at Sandhill Milkweed Roots

Aka someone or something knocked over my sandhill milkweed seedlings!!!!

May whoever or whatever did this feel a modicum of guilt!

Though it did honestly provide an interesting opportunity. Fortunately none of my milkweed seedlings fell out of their pots entirely, though the soil around them was loose enough that I could see the beginnings of their tap root. I decided, before I topped off with potting soil, to take a closer look at one.

Look at how thick it is! Compared to its own stem, even! I knew they grew taproots, but dang! Sandhill milkweed is reported to grow tap roots as deep as 12 inches long, and it’s extremely clear that this growth habit starts early on.

Spent all this time trying to decide if they were growing too big for their pots or just grew slow, and I think I may have my answer…

Seems I should plan on transplanting sooner rather than later. They still seem so tiny though…

#milkweed #pinewoods milkweed #sandhill milkweed #asclepias humistrata #gardening #pollinator gardening #outdoor gardening #seedlings #out of queue #ani rambles #anis garden 2023 #anis garden #milkweedposting #the milkweed queen has spoken

[anipgarden]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate how well my Sandhill Milkweed seedlings are doing? Look at them! I planted 12 seeds and 9 came up, thats pretty good!

I’m honestly wondering if I need to pot them up or just transplant them to the ground. Transplanting them this small makes me nervous but I don’t wanna give them transplant stress too many times either.

#or maybe they’re just growing slow because they’re Like That #pollinator gardening #outdoor gardening #gardening #milkweed #sandhill milkweed #pinewoods milkweed #asclepias humistrata #growing from seed #seedlings #asclepias #out of queue #ani rambles

[anipgarden]

Top things I’d do differently if I were to grow sandhill milkweed/pinewoods milkweed/Asclepias humistrata again

1: bigger pot. Would probably start them in a taller pot like a reused solo cup or something.

2: one per pot. Maximum space for each plant no crowding.

3: transplant them earlier on. Or just start them directly in the ground. I now have EVIDENCE that they grow faster in the root department than they do in the stem height department and probably need to be in the ground by the time they’re 2 inches tall. Or even an inch and a half.

4: decide where I’m putting them early and keep it weeded until they’re ready. Part of the reason I delayed transplanting them was having no clue where the hell I wanted to put them and being too lazy to weed.

With that being said, things I think I did right.

1: My soil mix. I took potting soil and added perlite, mixed them together, then planted the seeds. From what I can tell it held enough water to be Reasonable while still staying dry enough for the milkweeds to be happy.

2: time I started them. Which was February 17th. Here in FL its just getting warm enough around then, and I think giving them an early start would be helpful in ensuring their longevity if I actually transplanted them in a timely manner.

Will almost definitely be buying more seeds and trying again.

#ani rambles #out of queue #sandhill milkweed

[anipgarden]

For the homies who haven't followed for a long time, why the quest for swampweed milkweek seeds?

So I’m currently at the library so if this answer is lame I may go into more detail once I get home but the long and the short of it is Swamp Milkweed Pretty Pink Color. Long version below.

Summer ~2015 (I think): volunteering at the zoo, making and selling seed bombs to raise money for conservation projects. Some Karen sasses at me for encouraging people to make butterfly gardens/plant butterfly friendly plants (??????) and basically says ‘You probably don’t even so how dare you imply I, a mother of 3, should.’ I take that as a challenge.

Fall and Winter 2015: start collecting seeds and stuff from whatever stores sold them cheap for a butterfly garden. Start learning about how important milkweed is for monarchs. Goal to obtain Any Milkweed is a go.

Spring 2016ish (I think): I find milkweed for sale at garden stores! This is Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), and most of it is red and orange. While googling I find a Really Nice All Yellow Variety and my goal becomes Obtaining Yellow Milkweed.

Spring 2017ish: obtain yellow milkweed. At this point I have like 7ish tropical milkweed plants in my garden.

Spring either 2019 and 2020: at this point I have been growing milkweed and other flowers pollinators like for awhile when I learn that UH OH. Tropical Milkweed is invasive in my area! And I really shouldn’t be growing it! (One could argue the greenhouses in my area shouldn’t be selling it in the first place and I’d agree but I digress.) In my quest to figure out what species of milkweed ARENT invasive in my state—native, even—I find swamp milkweed and its the prettiest plant I’ve ever seen. Fuck yellow tropical milkweed, this plant is BRIGHT bright pink, beloved by caterpillars, beloved by pollinators, and smells like VANILLA? I want it now.

Thus begins the quest to grow it (and other species but mostly swamp milkweed) from seed. It never works out.

Spring 2020: accidentally steps on seedlings. Fatality.

Spring 2021: seeds were cold stratifying in the fridge but were left out of the fridge too long, sprouted in the bag for three days, and were weak as hell when I finally put them in. Forgot to water. Fatality.

Spring 2022: seeds are left in cups for way too long, forgot to water because Senior Project, cold stratification of next batch doesnt go well. Fatality.

Spring 2023: seeds mold while cold stratifying, germination rate is ‘one out of 21’ and then that one dies because I forget to water. Fatality.

During that whole while I’m thinking to myself ‘ok I suck at growing these from seed maybe they sell them in greenhouses and plant stores?’ And no they don’t. Until earlier this year when I finally find them being sold at native plant festivals (wherein which I arrive too late to my town’s once-yearly native plant festival and they’re sold out of milkweeds before the 30 minute mark of a 5 hour event YES I’m still mad about that) and other gardening festivals (shout out to the lady selling swamp milkweed at the zoo’s garden festival AND the honeybee festival) and ONE garden store near my friend’s house by the beach called Earthworks.

There are other milkweeds I am questing after now because there’s like 21-22 native milkweeds in Florida and my goal is to grow as many different varieties as possible (which is HARD because NO ONE SELLS THEM except for at this once a year plant sale and they don’t have enough to last THIRTY MINUTES YES IM STILL MAD). Currently I’ve also got my eyes set on sandhill milkweed (Asclepias humistrata) and Redring milkweed (whos latin name I don’t remember right now). Also trying to figure out why pictures of swamp milkweed are Bright Ass Vibrant Pink but all the ones I’ve gotten and that my garden server has are pale ass strawberry milk pink but yknow.

Since I’m trying to start a career in animation I’ll likely end up moving to Southern California sooner or later, and all my knowledge about swamp milkweed will be Fucking Useless. But worry not! I have another milkweed to obsess over that grows in Cali! Heartleaf Milkweed (which might be Asclepias cordifolia but I could be remembering that wrong) is GORGEOUS and it has the growth habit like Sandhill in a sense but the flowers are droopy and VELVETY PURPLE and the leaves are HEART SHAPED (kinda) so yknow. Vibes.

Anyways yeah thems the brakes pal.

#ani rambles #answered asks #the milkweed queen has spoken #i think its really funny that my gardening journey started out of spite #and now look at me