![\"Swamp](\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Asclepias-incarnata-4.jpg\")
<\/a>Swamp Milkweed at Chicago Botanical Gardens<\/p><\/div> As its common name indicates, it makes a great choice for planting in moist spots such as in rain gardens and along stream\/pond banks. No butterfly garden is complete without swamp milkweed. The flowers of swamp milkweed attract several species of butterflies including Monarchs. Monarch larvae (caterpillars) prefer swamp milkweed foliage for a nourishing food source over butterfly weed (A. tuberosa<\/em>).<\/p>\n New plants emerge slowly in late spring. It develops a deep tap rootsystem which is best left undisturbed once established. Swamp milkweed grows 3 to 4 feet tall (sometimes to 5 feet) and 2 to 3 feet wide on branching stems. Narrow, willow-like leaves are 3-6 inches long with a tapered point. Stems exude a toxic milky sap when cut.<\/p>\n The clustered flowers are very attractive and fragrant. Small individual \u00bc-inch wide blooms are a pink to light lavender color; tight clusters (umbels) of five reflexed petals sit atop tall stems in July and\/or August. Flowers are followed by attractive 2-4 inch long seed pods.<\/p>\n Swamp milkweed is short-lived, often 2-3 years, but it frequently re-seeds itself. In the fall the mature pods split open to release silky-haired seeds that are carried away on a blustery autumn day.<\/p>\n Swamp milkweed has no serious insect or disease problems. Aphids may be a significant pest. Deer generally leave milkweeds (Asclepias spp.<\/em>) alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) is an erect, clump-forming, U.S. native plant indigenous to swamps, bottomlands and wet meadows (USDA hardiness zones 3 to 6). Obviously, it prefers moist soils but grows equally well in average, well-drained garden soils. Full sun is best, but copes with some light shade. As its common name indicates, it makes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,772,1124,747,749,1122,645,674,602,1012,627,625,706,646,113,1056,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6471"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6471"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6471\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6548,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6471\/revisions\/6548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSwamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata<\/em>) is an erect, clump-forming, U.S. native plant indigenous to swamps, bottomlands and wet meadows (USDA hardiness zones 3 to 6). Obviously, it prefers moist soils but grows equally well in average, well-drained garden soils. Full sun is best, but copes with some light shade.<\/p>\n