Red Milkweed, Rose Milkweed, Swamp Milkweed - Native

Red Milkweed or Ascelpsis incarta is a jewel in the gardens. It prefers moist soils or rich garden soils.  It is reliably easy and will naturalize in areas that are often hard for such wodnerful flowers to thrive. As with all milkweed in North America, it is an essential host plant for Monarchs.  We often find 1 cat per plant of red milkweed in our native start areas.  We are quick to rescue them on young plants and move them to more established settings where they can have hundrends of milkweeds to choose from. 

Red Milkweed has many names, Rose Milkweed or Swamp Milkweed but I assure you there is nothing swampy about this flower. You won't regret having this in your formal, informal or natural gardens. 

Characteristics: 

• Perennial and hardy to zone 4
• Plants grow to 5 feet tall
• Pink and red flowers, 
• Vanilla-scented flowers
• Blooms in June and July
• Preferred food source of Monarch caterpillars
• 75 Seeds per packet 

Instructions - It is recommended to cold stratify this seed so sow early in pots (great for winter sowing) or directly in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked. You can also encourage germination if you miss the cold period but sowing into a tray of media, moisten, cover and place in fridge for 21 days.  Remove and provide dequate light and non freezing conditions.  It is easy to transplant and makes tubers that are easy to put anywhere you'd like. 

• Start Indoors - 8-10 weeks before the last frost or sow directly outside while still cold
• Sow 1/4" deep
• Germination 10-40 days
• Plant 12-24" apart
• Light: Partial Sun to Full Sun