Grow Milkweed Plants

Winter be damned. I'm gonna grow milkweed right thru the frost. Arizona milkweed and Aquatic milkweed are the number one stunners of the season. Tropical's persist, or die, depending on the duration of freezing weather.

Seed starting tips: put is soil and wait, put in soil cover with lid and wait, clip and water germinate, don't clip and water germinate. So there isn't one best way. Try different ways and see how the seeds start best for you. I learned that Aquatic milkweed likes to sit in soil for nearly a month before germinating. Most other milkweed seeds will germinate in one to two weeks.

Inspired by this wonderful Christmas gift from my wife I decided to try growing milkweed in a jar. I rinsed out the honey jar and added soil. Sprinkled a pinch of Milkweed Medley on the surface of the soil and watered the seeds and soil. Placed the cap w/ holes on the jar. Set it on the window sill and in a few weeks these milkweed plants are growing!

Jars are not great for milkweed because over watering and fungal disease is likely to occur without drainage holes.

The double-cup is a good way to care for seedlings. In the top cup you poke drainage holes. I poke three holes with the tip of my paring knife. Add soil to the cup with drainage holes. Add milkweed seeds. In this cup I am growing Green antelopehorn Asclepias viridis. Water the seed into the soil. Place the top cup in the bottom cup and place in a sunny window.

Store link: https://www.growmilkweedplants.com/store

Host: Brad Grimm

RIP Tropical Milkweeds: Putting Your Garden To Bed This Autumn

Monarchs are in northern Mexico. Right on schedule for Day of the Dead.

Not all tropical milkweed are created equal.

Why native milkweed won't thrive in a subdivision

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Bringing Nature Home, Updated and Expanded: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native Plants

Arizona milkweed finally has a pollinator on the flowers. Western honey bee is moving from goldenrod to late blooming Arizona milkweed. To be fair to the plant. It blooms and fruits all summer long until there is a frost.

A Dose of Milkweed with Danny Sanchez

Danny began gardening at an early age. Take a look at one of Danny's earliest experiences in the garden.

Danny's passion for gardening has only grown over the years.

Guest: Danny Sanchez

instagram @adoseofdannysgarden

facebook Danny Sanchez

YouTube A Dose of Danny

Host: Brad Grimm

Music licensed by Epidemic Sound

2/28/2020 Grow Milkweed Plants Podcast Episode 45

For complete show notes visit www.growmilkweedplants.libsyn.com

Two tour guides at a monarch reserve in Mexico have been found dead. Foul play is suspected. https://www.mimorelia.com/localizan-sin-vida-a-raul-hernandez-guia-turistico-de-la-mariposa-monarca/amp/

LA Times reports that a bloody war is brewing over "Blood Avocados". Is no one safe anymore? https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2019-11-20/mexico-cartel-violence-avocados

Sign the Change.org petition to boycott blood avocados from Mexico. https://www.change.org/p/whole-foods-boycott-mexican-avocados-buy-fair-trade

Xerces Society has released the Monarch Butterfly count for Western Monarchs; and they are bad. 29,418 monarchs counted. Below the threshold considered sustainable. Will the monarch migration in the West collapse? https://xerces.org/blog/western-monarchs-need-our-help-more-than-ever

Dr. Chip Taylor from Monarch Watch weighs in on western monarchs and the impact climate may have on the population. https://monarchwatch.org/blog/2020/02/25/monarchs-and-climate-in-the-west/?fbclid=IwAR2OuYfDhqegGypEdu92wPjpSzu_rbcRiSo8d5ZPLMNWmkFUnq2MHN967Lc

Host: Brad Grimm

44 GMP PODCAST SHOW NOTES

• #5 Calotropis gigantea and Calotropis procera. Kauai Seascapes Nursery Inc 4741 Kahiliholo Rd # A Kilauea, HI 96754 kauaiseascapesnursery.com
• #4 Private Residence (near public road) Calotropis procera. 5204 Kawaihau Rd Kapaa, HI 96746
• #3 Kapa'a First Hawaiian Church. Calotropis gigantea. Enjoy from public road. Advise not to enter property without permission. Address 4-1325 Kuhio Hwy Kapaa, HI 96746 North side of property.
• #2 Puakea Golf Course Park Calotropis gigantea. 4391 Nuhou St Lihue, HI 96766 look East toward Costco Gas Station
• #1 Kekaha Beach Park Calotropis procera. 1-7698 Kaumualii Hwy Kekaha, HI 96756

MILKWEED HIT LIST ✔️ Asclepias asperula https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62298

✔️ Asclepias nyctaginifolia https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62294

✔️ Asclepias tuberosa https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/47912

✔️ Asclepias linaria https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/62295

✔️ Asclepias hypoleuca https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/158742

✔️ Asclepias nummularia https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/158751

Nestor R and Brad G wander the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in search of the rare Welsh's milkweed.

Plant page: growmilkweedplants.com/welshii

Observation: inaturalist.org/observations/30008278

Google's top six results for Asclepias welshii

1. Wikipedia
2. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
3. USDA Plant Guide (.PDF)
4. USDA Plants Profile
5. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service A. welshii (.PDF)
6. Grow Milkweed Plants - Asclepias welshii

Host Brad Grimm

Unspoken guest: Nestor Robles

What you will hear in this episode.

Asclepias cryptoceras grows in a remote location on a shale slope in the Great Basin east of Reno NV. Three experts and me have an unplanned meeting in the mountains and talk milkweed over a rare milkweed.

Cocoa Beach Florida has sun and fun but I take a time-out under an umbrella to talk about the diverse number of locally native milkweeds in central Florida.

Guests: Anurag Agrawal, Elizabeth Pringle, Aramee Diethelm

Host: Brad Grimm

Monarch Population Status

The Xerces Society Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count 1997-2018

The Western Monarch Thanksgiving & New Year's Counts

Second New Year's Count Supports Monarchs Movement Between Sites

This master gardener is luring monarchs to Las Vegas

Host: Brad Grimm

Guests: Anne Marie Lardeau, Glenda Bona, Nestor Robles, David Dewenter

ROYALTY FREE MUSIC by BENSOUND

Jet down to Oleander Acres to see if milkweed really is bigger in Texas.