Milkweed

If you have milkweeds growing in your garden or landscape, you have likely noticed an alarming abundance of oleander aphids this year. While plentiful in number, natural enemies have been doing a great job of keeping oleander aphid populations "in check".

This can be a particularly tough time of the year to learn plant identification. With the warm temperatures and plentiful rainfall, vegetative growth is rapid, and we’re often left looking at a wall of green on green (on green). A common mix up is the misidentification of common milkweed and dogbane. Learn how to tell these two species apart.

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is beginning to bloom in NW Ohio. This perennial prefers full sun but can tolerate some light shade. The garden location should be fertile, moist and well drained, but once established it is drought tolerant. 

This is the time of the year when the menagerie of insects that feed on members of the dogbane family, including common milkweed, seem to arrive en masse to the consternation of monarchists. Some well-meaning gardeners aim to reserve milkweeds exclusively for the pleasure of monarchs. What about other native insects that feed on milkweeds; let them eat cake?

The Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative (OPHI) is encouraging all Ohioans who have grown common milkweed this season to harvest seed pods and take them to a participating Soil and Water Conservation Office. The Annual Milkweed Pollination Collection is in its third year in Ohio. In 2015, 7 counties piloted the milkweed seed pod collection. The project has grown and it is estimated that over 22 million seeds have been collected by volunteers across the buckeye state over the 3 years.  

This is the time of the year when the menagerie of insects that feed on members of the dogbane family (Apocynaceae), including common milkweed, seem to arrive en masse … to the consternation of monarch lovers! Some aim to reserve milkweeds for monarchs. What about other native insects that feed on milkweeds; let them eat cake?

As common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) produces its signature spiny, oblong seed pods, milkweed bugs may show-up en mass to take advantage of the seed bounty. There are two species of bugs that feed on milkweed seed: the large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) and the small milkweed bug (Lygaeus kalmii).

  I was moved by my friend Joe Boggs post about oleander aphids on milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) to add a little to the mix, mainly because I wrote earlier about butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) and because I took a number of pictures of milkweeds in the past few weeks and in previous years. They are quite beautiful with their reflexed corolla (group of petals) and elaborate horn and hood structures, their silky fibers (coma) used for life preserver flotation in World War II and pillows and comforters today, and for their relationship with Monarch butterflies.

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During yesterday's OSU Master Gardener Volunteer Diagnostic Workshop in Licking County, OH, one of the participants asked about the hordes of yellow aphids sucking juices from common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) reserved for monarch butterfly caterpillars.  These are oleander aphids (Aphis nerii) and their appearance reminds us that nature makes no food reservations.

 

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I came across early instar milkweed tussock moth caterpillars (Euchaetes egle) feeding on their namesake host yesterday and they reminded me of an e-mail message I received last year.  The message was from a well-meaning monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) enthusiast who asked how they could control tussock caterpillars so they wouldn't compete with monarchs.  I was aghast.  We celebrate the rejection of a monarchy each July 4! 

 

It can't be denied that milkweed tussock moth...