So I knew milkweed was aggressive, but I always thought people were talking about the crazy number of seed pods. I didn’t know their runner game.
The milkweed is coming up like crazy in my front bed this year so I thought I would transplant some “volunteers” to my new side garden bed. Imagine my surprise!
I‘m sure most of you know about all this already, but I thought this would be a good visual for other newbie native gardeners
ETA: that this is common milkweed since I forgot to put the type in my post.
by kaizenkitten
24 Comments
Cool now put that back in the ground!!
Oof. I love common milkweed and scattered seeds for them in my backyard. We’ll see how that goes haha
To be fair, I won’t be that mad if I wind up with a field of common milkweed. There’s worse things to have your yard covered in (like the garlic mustard, creeping charlie and buckthorn I’ve been battling since last spring).
This is why I chose Butterfly weed for my garden in 8A NC!
Wow! I had no idea. Which milkweed is this?
That’s a neat picture! Thank you for sharing – I didn’t know
I love that you’re holding it up like a guy who just caught a fish he’s really proud of
Good thing I only have Swamp and Butterfly Milkweed
Will all milkweeds do this? Or only common? I just put butterfly milkweed in my garden and I’d love if it did this and helped me fight off some non-native weeds I’ve got going on.
Cool!
I’ve never planted common milkweed on purpose, but it just showed up one year. Ever since, I’ve loved the chaos of how the runners make where it comes up next time a bit unpredictable.
That’s so funny, I just had this same reaction yesterday digging one up! I knew they were tough, but I don’t realize they were networked beneath my entire veggie patch haha
How deep did you bury? I got a bunch too and am relocating them to along my back alley area. I was going to go for about 8 inches but hopefully they aren’t too fussy
How deep were the rhizomes
I STG I’m cursed. I can’t keep milkweed alive to save my life.
Good ol common milkweed doing its thing!!😊😊
But… swamp milkweed and butterfly weed don’t do this, right? RIGHT?! (Asking for a friend.)
I wanna plant them in an area in my backyard that’s almost marshy–definitely more wet than not, but I’ve been traumatized by so many plants with runners that I’m afraid to take the plunge
This is why I always laugh when people are like “you can’t move milkweed! It has deep taproots!”
In reality common milkweed is scuttling sideways like a plant crab looking for more real estate lol.
Shit, OP is teaching me. I didn’t know they ran so strongly. Should I be worried if I plant it and want it mostly in one area?
Wow! Great visual. Thank you. I will share your post adding this: https://biologyinsights.com/does-milkweed-kill-other-plants/
Im learning this right now as I needed to remove a milkweed growing in too small a home. I thought I got it all but Its runnered and sprouting up all over 😅
Have you had success moving it like this before? I’m trying to transplant some from my parents yard to my own but I’m struggling to get it going!
I was day 1 in my native plant journey and planted a singular milkweed in my very small garden. I watched that bitch all year very confused on how it would bring butterflies to my yard but assured myself that one day I would have a “butterfly bush” in that spot. It’s year 5. I know there is no bush coming but instead I have about 100 of these guys coming up all through the lawns TWO doors down in a circle. It brings me so much joy that I accidentally planted a very healthy spreading weed. My gift to the earth!
Just a reminder that it’s toxic to pets.