Mature Height
3 Feet
Mature Width
24 IN
Sun / Shade
Full Sun
Bloom Size
0-2 IN
Habit
Upright
Tropical Butterfly Weed Seeds
Tropical Butterfly Weed Seeds
Magnificent tricolor blooms
Shipping details
Ships in 1-2 business days
$6.95
Key Characteristics
Description / Tropical Butterfly Weed Seeds
If you think the native orange-flowered butterfly weed is lovely, just wait until you grow these tricolored blooms from its South American cousin. Tropical Butterfly Weed offers a very long season of bloom, irresistible attraction for pollinators from hummingbirds to butterflies to bees, and large flowers just right for garden, container, and even home.
Tropical Butterfly Weed (Asclepias curassavica) is a tender perennial that will thrive for several years as a houseplant or for one glorious year as an annual outdoors. (It will re-seed itself in zones 9-11.) It is shrubbier than the native butterfly weed, reaching 2 to 3 feet high and up to 2 feet wide with excellent branching and masses of flowers. The blooms are followed by quite handsome seedpods, about 3 to 4 inches long and very slender—great for fresh or dried bouquets.
As you might expect from a plant whose common name includes the word "weed," it's very easy to grow. Give it full sunshine to light shade—bright light indoors—and any well-drained soil and Tropical Butterfly Weed will reward you with its brilliant blooms from early summer until well into fall. The sap of this plant is poisonous, so deer and rabbits leave it alone. And pollinators just can't stay away.
Tropical Butterfly Weed is ideal for containers of all kinds, indoors and out. If growing it outdoors, cut the plant back before the first hard frost and bring it inside for winter—it will flourish. And it's a fine presence in the vegetable garden, bringing pollinators on the wing and keeping nibbling animals at bay. You just can't go wrong with this tropical beauty.
For the longest season of bloom, start the seeds indoors about 8 to 10 weeks before the last spring frost. Transplant when all danger of frost has passed. Keep the plant well watered when young—it becomes quite drought tolerant as it reaches maturity in early summer. Then sit back and enjoy the parade of blooms and seedpods.
Product Details
| SKU | 51035-PK-P1 |
|---|---|
| Genus | Asclepias |
| Species | curassavica |
| Product Classification | Perennials, Seeds |
| Sun / Shade | Full Sun |
| Bloom Season Start | Early Summer |
| Bloom Season End | Mid Fall |
| Bloom Color | Multi-Color, Orange, Red, Yellow |
| Max Bloom Size | 2.00 |
| Foliage Color | Dark Green |
| Habit | Upright |
| Resistance | Cold Hardy, Deer Resistance, Disease Resistant, Drought Tolerant, Heat Tolerant, Humidity Tolerant, Pest Resistant |
| Characteristics | Award Winner, Bloom First Year, Butterfly Lovers, Cut-and-Come-Again, Direct Sow, Easy Care Plants, Ever Blooming, Flower, Free Bloomer, Heirloom, Long Bloomers, Pest Fighter, Rose Companions |
| Uses | Beds, Border, Containers, Cut Flowers, Everlastings, Outdoor, Wildflowers, Winter Interest |
| Zone | 9, 10, 11 |
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Customer Reviews
Top customer reviews
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Tropical Milkweed 0 people found this helpfulI have experimented with different species of milkweed. In my area, (Illinois, Zone 6) tropical is by far the favorite of monarch butterflies. I have had some success with swamp milkweed (mostly swallowtails) and prairie (Sullivanti). This year, any day in August I counted over 100 caterpillars. Before the migration, on any given day, one could easily count 30 to 50 monarchs. I plant anywhere from 35 to 50 tropical milkweeds and support their nectar needs with Mexican sunflowers. I have yet to discover a better combination in the last 15 years.
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It takes time to save butterflies. 1 people found this helpfulIt took a long time for the seeds to come up. But after three years I now have a milkweed area about 4 feet x 6 feet and these past two years twenty one monarch caterpillars. The are bright yellow with black stripes. The caterpillars eat hundreds of leaves. When they are grown they climb up the side of the house and attach themselves to the underside of the eves as pupa. The milkweed patch is on the south side near the house. We now see butterflies in the yard each year. We have transplanted many plants to my brother's home and he now has a big patch.
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Monarch caterpillars favorite food 0 people found this helpfulI grew 12 of these plants this year and had 40 monarch caterpillars on them. I'll be growing a lot more next year
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Safe and attractive 0 people found this helpfulEasier than natives. Cut back to ground at end of season. No butterfly confusion. Not toxic https://texasbutterflyranch.com/2015/04/30/tropical-milkweed-ok-for-monarch-butterflies-just-cut-the-dang-stuff-down/
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Not regular milkweed 1 people found this helpfulDo not buy, dangerous for monarchs in northern climates. https://xerces.org/blog/tropical-milkweed-a-no-grow
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Use Your Frig 0 people found this helpfulI learned on my second batch that you can really increase germination by placing seeds on a damp paper towel in a zip lock bag in the veggie drawer of your refrigerator for at least a month. For me, the germination worked better on Jiffy plugs than my biodome. I think the depth in the biodome was the problem. I used 2 seeds on each plug and got one or two growing on everyone. But I failed to use the frig on the first batch and it was very spotty. Overall, follow the directions and you will get beautiful plants.
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Monarch Butterflies 0 people found this helpfulWe became interested in the Monarch Butterfly migration through East Texas. So we ordered Tropical Milkweed this summer. We used Jiffy Pot trays and used 2 seeds per pot. We had many doubles and at least 1 germination in every pot. We have grown them on in 4" pots. It is now mid-September and the monarch caterpillars have eaten about 1/2 of our plants down to the stems. It is an excellent plant if you want to assist the Monarch population. The experts say in our Zone 8, we need to cut these perennials down to about 6" around Thanksgiving in order to reduce the OE spores. So it should still be a perennials in our area.
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Harmful to monarchs 0 people found this helpfulPlease research OE before considering this. Planting this outside of its native range has been proven to contribute to spreading a fatal disease among monarchs. Plant your native milkweeds instead!
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Inadequate instructions vs bad seeds 0 people found this helpfulI bought the whopper biodomes (2) and planted the seeds. Only 3 came up. I turned on the T5 light at that time, because the instructions on the packet said to add light once the seeds germinated. I then contacted the customer service by email with the question: “ do I turn on the lights when all the seedlings come up or just these three. No response. So then I went to the joyful butterfly blog and they said to supply plenty of light BEFORE the seeds germinate as milkweed seeds will not germinate without light. Oh, well, no wonder. So I am continuing to wait. But it has been 2 weeks today and only the 3 seeds have germinated. I am disappointed because I wanted fairly large plants to transplant into the butterfly garden by March. I live in Houston, and the butterflies are here from Mexico by March 15th. There is never enough milkweed in the garden for all the caterpillars to eat . I thought this was going to be the solution, but I guess not.
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My favorite milkweed 0 people found this helpfulBeautiful blooms that kept going until frost. Butterflies loved it so much that the monarch babies decimated my plants which rebounded from being basically just stems. Sadly annual in zone 6. 4 stars because germination was spotty for me.
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