The Marvelous Common Milkweed
- Michelle
- Apr 19
- 2 min read
Let’s see some baby pictures! A lot of the plants you will pick up in May and June are already growing in our greenhouse, like Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca.
When we first started the nursery we were told not to grow Common Milkweed. Too common, they said. Too weedy, they said. But my Yooper customers said otherwise. After a number of people expressed disappointment when told we only had Swamp Milkweed, or Butterfly Milkweed from <gasp> southern Michigan, we got the message. I found a Common Milkweed pod in our field that had overwintered with some of its seeds inside. That counts as stratification, right? It sure did. We grew out our first tray of Common Milkweed and sold every single one.
Now Common Milkweed is one of our biggest sellers. It isn’t surprising that our wholesale customers want it for habitat creation and erosion control. But it sells equally well on our website or at plant sales. It turns out people really do want local plants from local seeds. And who can blame them? Common Milkweed is tough, with beefy roots that can survive our winters. It handles the sandy or rocky soils which are common up here and looks darn good doing it, with big pompoms of pink flowers that attract all manner of pollinators. It is famous for being a host plant and nectar source for Monarch butterflies, but its sweet evening scent reveals it as being equally important for nocturnal pollinators.
Common Milkweed Spreads
Far from being a detriment, the fact that Common Milkweed spreads by rhizome is a highly sought feature. Many people up here have space: large lots, acres, sometimes many acres. That’s why they moved here, or it’s why they stay. But when you look at those spaces with an eye to converting them from lawn or pasture into something more useful, the idea of planting native plants on every square foot, even with seeds, looks daunting, expensive, or downright impossible. A native plant that spreads itself? For free? Yes please!
We grow it by the thousands now and still worry about running out. So take that, Common Milkweed Naysayers. Common Milkweed is Yooper-tough, and that is valuable and worth preserving.