PLANTING MILKWEED WITH CAMILLA MACFADYEN AND THE SARROUFS!

img_4947img_4937Thank you to Dawn and John Sarrouf for sharing their milkweed planting photos. They are visiting their friend Camilla at her family home in Small Point Maine, which sounds like, from Dawn’s description, a gorgeously beautiful location, and ideal Monarch habitat. There are fields of wildflowers, and Seaside Goldenrod grows just as easily in the rocky outcroppings there as it does on Eastern Point. After looking at maps, it appears as if you could draw a virtual straight line from Small Point to Eastern Point. Dawn and friends spotted about ten butterflies yesterday. Perhaps we’ll be the next stop (after the predicted rainfall).

img_4946Camilla collected milkweed seed pods and enlisted the Sarroufs to help plant.

DAWN SARROUF PHOTOS

World’s Easiest Method on How to Grow Milkweed From Seed

Milkweed Eastern PointCommon 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.

Monarch Butterfly Marsh Milkweed ©Kim Smith 2011

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Monarch Caterpillars Feeding on Common Milkweed ©Kim Smith 2011

Monarch Butterfly Twins ©Kim smith 2011Two newly emerged Monarchs, with chyrsalides attached to the rib of Common Milkweed leaves