Tag Archive for: Asclepias exaltata – Poke milkweed

As announced, we travel local this weekend trough Eastern and Central North American woodlands with:

Amphicarpaea bracteata, American hog-peanut
Asclepias exaltata, Poke Milkweed
and Aronia melanocarpa, Black Chokeberry – counting as new for this season, so we’ll stop for a few seconds to talk about it.

The Black Chokeberry is a great shrub for the wildlife garden, with white flowers in the spring, glossy green leaves which turn red in the fall and black/blue edibles berries. It usually grows as a shrub and it also spreads by root suckers.

Black Chokeberry is a very tough shrub that can be grown in full sun or part-shade, and adapts well to a wide range of soils; the more moisture has the more vigorous will grow.
Usually seen growing/sold as a medium size shrub, in less than optimal conditions in the wild, it can be dwarfed by the winds and snow. So, we have the option to keep it pruned and use it as a featured shrub in a large rockery, for example (or other garden situations).

Mitchella repens (Partridge berry) stock was almost depleted, and more seeds are also now available. The same goes for Lilium michiganense. The partridge berry (in the featured image) is a hard to beat evergreen, very low groundcover for rather moist locations.

The Seeds List

Happy Thanksgiving to all celebrating!

A couple of days ago I found seeds of Asclepias exaltata germinated/overgrown within the moist towel I used for cold/moist stratification; reason why I don’t like to use this method too much (a great space saver though). When using moist vermiculite the roots have the possibility to grow in/attach and even feed a bit from the vermiculite.
 Of course it is my fault I didn’t keep a good eye on the seeds. I managed to gently extract a few of the seedlings and planted them right away.

Asclepias exaltata germinated seeds

Asclepias exaltata seedlings

I probably showed this woodland Asclepias before, but the milkweeds are never enough :) and this one is indeed scarce in my region (SW Ontario). For this reason, I always collect selectively only few seeds and there are never enough for sale.

I am trying to produce more for my native woodland corner to address the issue, plus, to keep the pollinators happy! They are easy to grow, my 3 years old plant (grown from seeds) will flower this year. Meanwhile for those that need a remainder, this is the Poke milkweed.

Asclepias exaltata, Poke milkweed, flowering usually in late June

Speaking of something else, Hydrophyllum virginianum has a nice show in the woods right now, and also in my garden. The bumblebees are happy. Also flowering, Conopholis americana while Viola pubescens capsules are getting closer to maturity.

Hydrophyllum virginianum

And, Erythronium americanum capsules have been collected; this is one of the best collections  I’ve done so far. The seeds will be available in the Seeds Shop next week.

Erythronium americanum capsules