Milkweeds: monarch host plants
Monarch caterpillars eat milkweed and nothing else. Every plant here is an Asclepias — the whole answer to the question, not a selection from it — so the choice is about matching one to your site rather than picking a favorite. Butterfly Weed takes dry sun, Swamp Milkweed takes wet feet, and Common Milkweed will colonize whatever you give it. Adults also need late-season nectar for the migration, so pair these with fall asters and goldenrods.
Bedfellow lists 13 of these.
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- Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
- Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
- Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
- Antelope Horns (Asclepias asperula)
- Showy Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa)
- Narrowleaf Milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis)
- Whorled Milkweed (Asclepias verticillata)
- Green Comet Milkweed (Asclepias viridiflora)
- Woollypod Milkweed (Asclepias eriocarpa)
- Aquatic Milkweed (Asclepias perennis)
- Rush Milkweed (Asclepias subulata)
- Sullivan's Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii)
- Tall Milkweed (Asclepias elata)