Today, the first of the Butterfly Weed seeds we sowed last week sprouted. This event was the culmination of a five week process that was needed in order for them to germinate.
Asclepias tuberosa gets the name Butterfly Weed from the fact that butterflies love these plants as much as people do. Monarch butterflies often visit this plant because it is in the milkweed family.
This hardy perennial produces dense clusters of blossoms ranging in color from yellow to orange to red that appear in June and July. They make a good cut flower.
As you might have guessed, there is a down-side to growing these garden favorites; that being the five week process I mentioned earlier.
It all starts with a four week process know as “stratification”. It is during this period we try to mimick winter and the early spring snow melt which is needed before the seed is able to geminate. This happens fairly often in the plant world and is needed by many hardy perennials.
We start out by placing the seed between two sheets of wet paper towels. The paper toweling gets placed into a Zip-Loc bag, then the whole thing goes into the crisper of the refrigerator. There the seeds are fooled into thinking the winter is ending and the warm spring will soon be here.
Last week, after four weeks, the seeds were removed from the crisper. We sowed the seeds on the surface of our planting mix without covering them because, in addtion to stratification, they also need sunlight to sprout. So, now, they have the 70 degree warmth they need to begin growing in the greenhouse.
Not all seed catalogs or nurseries for that matter offer Asclepias seed or plants. It may be due to the difficulty in the germination process. There is still time to order seeds if you want to try growing them yourself. We got ours from Stokes Seeds . Park’s Seeds offer them as well.
By starting the seeds this early we can be sure they will blossom this season instead of having to wait until next year. The seedlings will be planted in the garden in May along with the rest of our flowers.
Bob