Asclepias syriaca
Origin: United States and Canada
Improvement status: Wild
Seeds per packet: ~60
Germination tested 09/2025: 82%
Life cycle: Perennial
Common milkweed is a beautiful and delicious native perennial and also of critical importance to monarch butterflies — the only plant monarch caterpillars will eat. The young leaves, flowers and flower buds are all edible for people too (after cooking). Nate loves the flavorful flowers cooked with scrambled eggs. The flowers are also pollinator magnets. Spreads both by airborne seeds and underground rhizomes.
Our seed for this Maine ecotype comes from our friend and collaborator Aaron Parker of Edgewood Nursery in Falmouth, Maine.
GROWING TIPS: Cold stratify 30 days, or fall direct seed outside.
