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Asclepias incarnata |
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| Common name |
swamp milkweed |
| Family |
apocynaceae |
| Life cycle |
perennial |
| Flowers |
purple (summer) |
| Size |
3-4 ft |
| Light |
full sun |
| Cultural notes |
likes moisture, but does fine in drier soils too |
From seed  |
self-seeds moderately in our garden
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| Seed ripens | early August |
A native milkweed with willowy leaves along upright stalks, topped with purple flowers in early summer. After flowering, it forms long puffy banana-shaped pods, which open to expose a fluffy mess of light fuzz and flat seeds that blows away in the wind. Birds use the fluff in nest-building. Like all milkweeds, this one attracts monarch butterflies and many other insects.
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We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. One or more images of this plant are included in my stock photo catalog About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Asclepias incarnata
Some particularly helpful links to other websites
Visitors to this page have left the following comments| Chris K | Jul 02, 2011 | Rob, I've been doing a search of websites that contain information about the swamp milkweed because I want to know how much growth to expect from the two I have. This is the second year for mine and one has definitely suffered from transplanting. I've learned not to water the leaves which, if done repeatedly, will weigh down the branches for the season. Anyway, should I expect the height of about four feet to maintain over its life, and the plant to expand around the edges the way that many other perennials do, such as Coneflowers and Shasta Daisies?
In my experience, that's about as tall as swamp milkweed gets. Through the years, you can expect your plants to get more robust, but they won't expand the way many other perennials do, because they grow from a central taproot. |
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Last modified:
June 21, 2015
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