Swamp Milkweed Seeds (Asclepias incarnata)

Largely a species east of the Rocky Mountains where it occurs from New England to Florida and west into the Great Plains, swamp milkweed does occur naturally in the West as well, but primarily in Idaho, Utah, and parts of the Yellowstone Basin.

This is tall-statured plant (upwards of 5-feet in height) that thrives most in wet ground –rain gardens, stormwater retention ponds, street bioswales, and backyard water gardens. When planted among native wetland grasses and bullrushes, this is probably an excellent species for engineered wetland wastewater and surface runoff treatment systems. Or, simply plant it around rooftop downspouts on the sunny side of a house for a dramatic residential foundation plant.

With brilliantly magenta-colored flowers, this plant attracts incredible numbers of big, showy pollinators, milkweed specialist herbivores, and is considered a choice monarch butterfly host plant – in one research study monarchs were shown to select swamp milkweed most frequently for egg-laying when given a choice of milkweeds to lay eggs on – and they laid more eggs on swamp milkweed than on those other species.

While this plant can form rhizomatous colonies in wet soil, it can also grow in drier, upland sites but in such conditions it tends to stay shorter and produces fewer stems.

Very distinctive, remarkably beautiful with its narrow leaves and straight stems.

Approximately 150 seeds per packet. (1.1 grams).