Whorled Milkweed
Family: Apocynaceae (Dogbane Family)
· Height: 12-24 inches
· Spread: 12-24 inches
· Bloom Time: June to September
· Bloom: white, in small clusters; flowers give way to smooth, narrow seed pods (to 3” long) which split open when ripe releasing numerous silky-tailed seeds for dispersal by the wind.
· Light: full sun to part shade
· Soil: average, well-drained
· Moisture: dry to medium; prefers hot, dry soils; tolerates moist soils
· Use: naturalize, rain garden, meadows, prairie, native bed and border; cut flower; Monarch butterfly, Queen Butterfly and Milkweed Tussock Moth larval host plant; attracts other butterflies like the Great Spangled Fritillary and other beneficial insects like wasps, flies and beetles.
· Care: mature plants may freely self-seed in the landscape if seed pods are not removed prior to splitting open; does not transplant well due to its deep taproot; best left undisturbed once established
· Concerns: no serious insect or disease problems
· Native to: glades, dry prairies, dry slopes, dry open woods, pastures, fields and roadsides in central and eastern North America extending from Massachusetts to Ontario and Saskatchewan south to Arizona and Florida
· Notes: stems ooze a milky sap when cut or broken
· Supplier: Agrecol Native Nursery
· Teaching Garden Location & Code: Demonstration Prairie I001
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