Milkweed Varieties

There are many different opinions on Milkweed & which variety should be grown in our area. Some people believe only native Milkweed should be grown. We have not been able to get seeds to try to grow them all. In our experience Female Monarchs prefer just about any type of milkweed to lay her eggs on.

Our opinion is if any Milkweed will grow here, We should plant it.

There are 73 varieties of Milkweed that are Native to the United States.

There are 37 of those varieties of Milkweed that are Native to the Western United States.

There are 3 of those varieties of Milkweed that are native to Santa Clara Valley:

- Showy Milkweed - Asclepias speciosa

- Narrowleaf Milkweed - Asclepias fascicularis

- California Milkweed - Asclepias californica

We would say the prevention of the extinction of the Western Monarch Butterfly is of greater importance than planting ONLY Native Milkweed. Of course, we should be careful not to let the non-native milkweed become an invasive species problem. If we keep it in our gardens & try not to let it spread into the wild, hopefully it will not become an issue. We can do this by NOT letting our Milkweed seed pods to crack open & freely let the seeds be carried on their silky puff balls, (like dandelions), by wind to fly everywhere. If you want to save some seeds, keep in mind each seed pod can contain hundreds of seeds. How many do you want to keep?

If you don’t want to save the seeds then as soon as the seed pod forms, clip it off & dispose of it. Aphids love the seed pods since the plants’ nutrients are going to the seed pods to encourage good seed growth. The seed pods act like a magnet for aphids. Less seed pods = less aphids. If you ever make the mistake of letting the seed pods open on their own keep in mind each seed is attached to a silky “parachute”, like dandelion seeds. When the silk dries & the wind blows, the seeds can freely fly with the wind, or just fall if there is no wind, all we can say is imagine you have trees on your property & they get T.P. ‘ed (Toilet Papered) & then it rains 🙀. Big Mess. Control the seed pods.