Asclepias syriaca

Product Info

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Dogbane Family

One of 17 species of milkweeds native to North Carolina. Common Milkweed is best suited for natural spaces, large meadows, restoration projects, or maybe an extra large container. Only plant in a small garden at your own peril. Spreads readily by underground rhizomes and seeds, and is not particularly easy to pull out. If you have the space, it is a beautiful milkweed to plant. The flowers are quite large, very fragrant, a unique mauve-rose color, and attract an incredible amount of pollinators. It is, famously, a host plant for the Monarch butterfly. The abundance and large size of the leaves on this species of milkweed make it a preferred species. Some sources recommend cutting plants in half or by ⅔ in mid summer to promote new growth, which is preferred by young caterpillars that hatch in late summer/early fall.

Blooms: Pink, 4-6 weeks, June-July
Leaves: Light green, fuzzy, 6”, ovoid, simple
Height: 3-5’
Space: 2-3’
Soil: Average-Dry, poor soils
Exposure: Full sun-Part sun
Fauna: Long-tongue bees, butterflies, wasps, beetles, host to Monarch butterfly and several moth species
Seeds: 3-4”, spiky, tapered balloon-like pod filled with seeds attached to silky hairs
Native Status: NC Native, common in the Piedmont & Mountains, exotic in the Coastal Plain
Deer Resistance: High
Zone: 3-9
Provenance: NC Ecotype, Seed grown