Showy Milkweed (Asclepias Speciosa) - This perennial plant can be easily established by sowing Asclepias seeds. It has up to 40 inch stems and large gray-green oval leaves that can be 5 inches in length. The flowers form on top of the stems and are rounded clusters of rosy-pink flowers. One plant can form a large clump by its spreading rhizomes. The Showy Milkweed plant, like its relative Butterfly Weed, prefers to be grown in full sun. It is quite drought tolerant after its second year of establishment as the root system is not well-established the first year after growing from flower seed. It can be found along ditches and roads as well as in moist sites of meadows and fields. Plants grow to 40 inches tall and have large, round clusters of pink flowers.

Showy Milkweed Asclepias is an ornamental native wildflower. It's perfect for home landscaping and use in the butterfly garden or prairie meadow, and it attracts hummingbirds as well. People have also used milkweed for fiber, food, and medicine all over the United States and southern Canada. Milkweeds (especially Asclepias speciosa) supply tough fibers for making cords and ropes, and for weaving a coarse cloth. It is a very versatile plant that is easily grown from flower seeds!

Growing Showy Milkweed from flower seed is very rewarding. It is appropriate to sow Asclepias seeds outdoors after the frosts of fall have begun. The cold, dormant planting will aid the germination of the seed in spring when temperatures warm. If sowing Milkweed seeds indoors or in a greenhouse, refrigerate the seed for 2 months before sowing. The cold treatment will help to break the dormancy of the seed.