Originally posted by jddwoods If you find out where you can get butterfly weed seeds on line please post the website. It is another plant that I have seen growing wild in meadows in northern Delaware and Southeast Pennsylvania but I would prefer to purchase it rather than digging it up from someones meadow. It is a lot like the swamp milkweed except for the bright orange flowers. Here, growing wild in a Delaware meadow.
https://www.prairiemoon.com/ has a variety of Asclepias seed available. Shipping is cheap to the US, silly to Canada.
Like you, I'm also averse to digging plants from the wild, especially Asclepias tuberosa which can be a bugger to move once it's going. An exception is from active farmland early spring - the farmer doesn't want it, it will probably get hosed with roundup or mowed down by cattle. However...I'm pretty OK with collecting a few seeds from unprotected land (i.e. up here I don't collect from National or Provincial parks), so if you know where a patch lives, go back later in the summer
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I'll also say that Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca, really is the bomb if you have the right place for it. it will spread like mad via the roots, so you do need a large area where you can let it run rampantly. And best to do it out of sight from active farmers. But when a big patch is blooming, the scent and sight is just magnificent.
My final bit of advice for people shopping for bee or butterfly plants - quiz your nursery about the plants history. Make absolutely sure it hasn't been treated with any pesticides that may harm the little pollinators you're trying to attract.