Common Milkweed Patch Eastern Point
Now is the perfect time of year to collect and to plant milkweed seeds, either from pods that are just splitting open or from pods that have already split and are showing their silky fluff.
There are several different methods of propagating milkweed and the following is by far the simplest. Gather milkweed seeds and store in a paper bag. At the location in your garden where you are planning a milkweed patch, lightly scratch the soil with a rake. Scatter the seeds over the soil. Sprinkle a thin layer of soil over the seeds, just enough to keep them from blowing away. That’s it! Next spring, by mid-May, you will have a patch of milkweed seedlings. This super simple method works for Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) and Marsh Milkweed (Asclpeias incarnata).
Note ~ when collecting seeds from wildflowers, never remove the plant from its location, and never take all the seeds.
If you’d like to learn more about this beautiful plant species, and how growing milkweed in your own garden directly benefits the Monarch Butterfly, there are over 25 posts covering milkweed on Good Morning Gloucester; too numerous to list here. Type milkweed in the search box in the upper right hand corner of the GMG home page to see all.
Cape Ann Milkweed Project
News Release: MONARCH WATCH ANNOUNCES ‘BRING BACK THE MONARCHS’ CAMPAIGN
How Exactly is Monsanto’s Roundup Ravaging the Monarch Butterfly Population?
Where Are All the Monarchs?
Two newly emerged Monarchs, with chyrsalides attached to the rib of Common Milkweed leaves
Good Morning Gloucester 
Something as children used to be in awe watching them:
“Where have those flowers and butterflies all gone That science may have staked the future on?”
—from Robert Frost, “Pod of the Milkweed,” 1962
LikeLike
Thanks Dave for the reminder of this poem-I think I’ll post in its entirety.
LikeLike
Kim, I definitely noticed a lack of monarchs this year, in fact, i rarely even saw one. I’m planning to plant a milkweed patch in my yard right away and hope to see seedlings sprout in the spring. Lois , Eastern Point.
LikeLike
Hi Lois,
Your milkweed patch sounds terrific!!! There are several plants that grow on Eastern Point that are particularly critical to the Monarchs survival during their migration and I have an idea for Eastern Point residents and will email you re.
LikeLike