Bloodflower is without a doubt the best milkweed species for greenhouse culture or the home garden. It attracts Monarch Butterflies and is tolerant to occasional over-watering. It is native to tropical America.

Blooming Time: Spring to fall. Its blossoms are are red and orange, less than an inch across, and appear in clusters at the top of 2 to 4 ft. stalks.

Culture: Asclepias curassavica require a sunny spot in moist, fertile soil. Blood-flower is not as drought tolerant as other species of milkweeds. Keep the plants uniformly moist, but not saturated. Pinch the tops of the plants to induce a bushy habit and provide more flowering branches. Once a week fertilize with a balanced fertilizer such as 20-20-20 diluted to half the strength recommended on the label.

Propagation: Bloodflower produces a robust plant when started from wildflower seed. It can be propagated from cuttings of green stem cut underwater and treated with rooting hormone. The stems are then placed in vermiculite or in potting soil kept continuously moist.

Bloodflower is easy to grow, thriving in dry, moist, and even wet soils. The leaves are sometimes attacked by aphids which produce an excrement (called honeydew!) which is in turn colonized by a grayish black fungus called sooty mold. None of this is life-threatening to the milkweed, and eventually some other predators (such as ladybugs) will come along and polish off the aphids. If you do want to intervene in nature's drama, the aphids are easily washed off with a stream of water or suffocated with horticultural oil or a mild solution of dishwashing detergent.

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