[Jacqui]

I’ve been researching a piece for the SUMMER magazine about swan plant health. I get asked lots of questions and mostly I don’t know the answers. 🙂

Anyway, I was thinking it would probably be better for people in cooler areas of NZ to think about planting Asclepias varieties. We sell A. incarnata seed on our site and this has been popular with a few people, as it sets rhizomes and the plant just pops its head up above the soil every year when spring is here.

It is possible to import seeds… I would suggest that people work out which climatic zone they live in, in NZ

Climatic zones in NZ

Then do more homework here:

Milkweed Profiles

These are the seeds that may be imported:

MPI Biosecurity Index

Asclepias cancellata, A. hallii, A. incarnata, A. pulchra, A. speciosa, A. syriaca. There are several recommended sellers which will show up when you google.

Then, here is an excellent publication put out by the Xerces Society.

Xerces Society – Milkweeds: A Conservation Practitioner’s Guide

[Kimstu]

Wow you can plant A. syriaca here in NZ?? I’m visiting for a few months from the northeastern US where I had a good butterfly-raising northern summer using wild milkweed, and have been struggling here with some not-very-healthy caterpillars on a few munched swan plants! Would love to see stands of A. syriaca all over patches of waste ground like back home (but farmers don’t like it if it gets in the pastures).

[Author]

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