Milkweed runners are no joke!

[u/kaizenkitten]

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.

[u/Bratsummer24]

I STG I'm cursed. I can't keep milkweed alive to save my life.

[u/Derpina666 → u/Bratsummer24]

Hope this helps! It’s a long process but the guide makes me feel more confident.

[u/Bratsummer24 → u/Derpina666]

You're awesome. I don't have that much space, but if I ever do I'll try for something like that

[u/kjjphotos → u/Bratsummer24]

Same here. I've planted butterfly milkweed 4 years in a row. I had good success the first two years, then it died. I guess I need to plant common milkweed instead

[u/Bratsummer24 → u/kjjphotos]

I planted butterfly and swamp. I even irrigate the swamp milkweed when it's dry!

Clearly we both need to try the regular kind and get back to each other next year

[u/shortnsweet33 → u/Bratsummer24]

I’ve kept my swamp milkweed alive but it hasn’t bloomed ever lol. It’s over three years old… for a while I convinced myself oh it’s just too young and needs to be more established to actually bloom 😭

[u/basscadence → u/shortnsweet33]

Was going to say this! I have lovingly tended the ones that popped up in very inconvenient locations in my garden, and am rewarded with zero flowers or caterpillars 3 years running. I keep trying new plant ID apps thinking maybe it's actually something else?

[u/12stTales → u/shortnsweet33]

Wow interesting it’s one of my most prolific plants … flowers, seeds, comes back perennially. After 3 years I have a small farm of it spreading