How to grow African Milkweed

Asclepias fruticosa

Full Sun
OR
Partial Sun
Medium

Choose a sunny position. Add blood and bone before planting and fertilize regularly. Protect from snails and slugs.

Smaller plants can be completely eaten by Monarch Butterfly caterpillars. Remove excess eggs to prevent this. Grow a number of plants to ensure lots of butterflies.

Transplanting African milkweed

Sow direct where they are to grow. Scatter seed thinly, cover with seed raising mix, firm down and water gently. Thin plants later to 1 meter apart.

How long does African milkweed take to grow?

These estimates for how long African milkweed takes to sprout, grow and harvest are from real observations from real gardeners, right around the world.

Days to Germination How long does it take African milkweed to germinate?: 14 days
Average 14 days | Min days | Max days (0)
Days to Transplant How long until I can plant out African milkweed?: + days
Average days | Min days | Max days (0)
Days to Maturity How long until African milkweed is ready for harvest / bloom?: + 98 days
Average 98 days | Min days | Max days (0)
Total Growing Days How long does it take to grow African milkweed?: = days

African milkweed Etymology

The latin ‘fruticosa’ means “shrubby”.¹

African milkweed Folklore & Trivia

During WWII the silky part attached to the seeds was used for life jackets.²³⁴ Milkweed is more bouyant then cork by 5 or 6 fold.²³⁴

Asclepias produce some of the most complex flowers in the plant kingdom, comparable to orchids in complexity.⁵

Other names for African milkweed

Swan plant

Asclepias fruticosa L.

Footnotes

¹ The meaning of Latin plant names

² Native Plant Society of Texas

³ Washington Post

⁴ “Your Country’s Armed Services Need Milkweed Floss: How You Can Help” :https://archive.org/stream/YourCountrysArmedServicesNeedMilkweedFlossHowYouCanHelp/YourCountrysArmedServicesNeedMilkweedFlossHowYouCanHelp_djvu.txt

⁵ Wikipedia entry on Asclepias