Milkweed Plant for Monarchs
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| Monarch Butterfly on a Tropical Milkweed Plant |
The Milkweed plant is the sole host plant for Monarchs. Although Monarch caterpillars have preferences of some varieties of milkweed over others, there are many different species of milkweed plants that Monarch caterpillars will gladly gobble up. One of the great things about milkweed plants is that they double as a host AND nectar plant. As a host plant, they are only used by Monarch and Queen butterflies but as a nectar plant they are quite popular among many different butterfly species. Below we present information about a variety of milkweeds and their native regions.
Some of the more common species of milkweed plants that the Monarchs will use include the following and they are described below:
To find some milkweed plants that are native to your region you may want to visit Prairie Moon Nursery. They carry a larger variety of milkweed seeds than I cover here and with some of the varieties you can buy milkweed plants as well (just type "milkweed" in their search bar). If you click on the milkweed name a detailed page will come up telling you specifics about germination, care, and even a map of North America showing where the plant is native and growing. Great information. They specialize in native seeds and plants and I have enjoyed purchasing from them.
Prairie Moon actually carries a lot of great butterfly plant seeds that I will be adding to this website in the future. However, they don't carry the Tropical milkweed seeds (since they are not native) but these can be found at popular online places like Burpee.
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Tiger Swallowtail on
Tropical Milkweed |
Tropical milkweed is grown as an annual in most parts of the USA. It is a perennial in zones 9-11 (possibly 8b as well) but it grows great as an annual - fast growing and free flowering. It also is quite easy to start from seed as it does not require cold stratification like most milkweed seeds do. It produces alot of easily collectable seeds each summer which start well indoors early in the Spring so you can get a jump start on the butterfly season. Several sources have found that the Monarch butterflies are more attracted to this variety of milkweed over the others as a host plant for their eggs/caterpillars. Of course this can vary from region to region and garden to garden.
Common Milkweed Plant (Asclepias syriaca)
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Common Milkweed - Jennifer
Anderson @ USDA-NRCS
PLANTS Database |
Common Milkweed is a perennial that is native to North America. It is native to the central and eastern half of the United States and Canada and is hardy in zones 4-9. It is easy to grow and does well in many different soil types. The seeds should be cold stratified before planting. It can be invasive as it spreads by reseeding and underground tubers/runners. Asclepias syriaca will be a good choice if you have the space for it but if you are looking for a milkweed plant to place in an ornamental garden you may want to consider a different type of milkweed or keep your Common milkweed in containers.
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Female Black Swallowtail on
Butterfly Weed |
Butterfly weed is a long lived and tough perennial and is hardy in zones 3-9. Asclepias tuberosa is native to most of the USA and eastern Canada. It is an easy and dependable plant once it is established and it is well behaved in the garden. Asclepias tuberosa produces a strong taproot which makes established plants difficult to transplant (but not impossible - I have successfully transplanted several) but makes the plant tolerant of dry conditions. It produces plenty of seed and is easily grown from seed (cold stratification is required unless fresh seed is planted in the Fall). Butterfly weed is a very popular nectar source of many butterfly species. The Monarchs tend to prefer Tropical milkweed and Swamp milkweed (not sure about Common milkweed) over Butterfly weed as host plants but they will readily use butterfly weed if that is mainly what you have to offer or if they have overloaded the other milkweed plants. Butterfly weed is appreciated for it's hosting capabilities, but especially for the many butterflies that nectar from it, it's short and bright garden appearance, and it's ruggedness.
Swamp Milkweed Plant (Asclepias incarnata)
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| Swamp Milkweed - Jennifer Anderson @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database |
Swamp milkweed is a perennial that is hardy in zones 3-8 (some reports include zone 9). It is
a wetland plant but will do fine in medium moist conditions once established (some reports say it will even tolerate dry conditions). The seeds should be cold stratified before planting. Asclepias incarnata is native to most of the USA with the exception being the west coast. It is also native to eastern Canada. It is a nice addition to a butterfly garden and is also attractive to many species of butterflies as a nectar plant. Monarchs will use it readily as a host plant but may prefer Tropical milkweed over Swamp milkweed if given the choice.
Showy Milkweed Plant (Asclepias speciosa)
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Showy Milkweed - Robert Tatina @
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database |
Showy milkweed is a perennial that is native to the Western half of the United States up into Canada. It is hardy in zones 4-9 and is a rhizomatous plant spreading underground or by seeds. Showy milkweed grows about 4 ft tall with fragrant purplish-pink umbrels of flowers. Asclepias speciosa will do well in dry conditions (although not as well as Desert milkweed or Indian milkweed) once it is established. This milkweed is easily propagated from seed (cold treatment is necessary) or rhizome cuttings. It is reported that this plant does not do well in pots. Showy milkweed should prove to be a relatively easy and pretty plant to grow as a Monarch magnet for the Western half of the US.
There are many more types of milkweeds than I can cover here so I encourage you to explore them further if you wish. One thing you should know about every milkweed plant is that it is poisonous to animals if consumed and that the milky latex inside can cause severe eye problems if it gets in an eye. The toxicity of the plant helps protect the Monarchs from predators as they do not like the taste of the caterpillars or butterflies. My kids and I have never had a problem with it but we are pretty strict about washing our hands after handling.
