Not complaining but I had more monarchs than milkweed this year. I need more milkweed for next year. I have quite a bit of common milkweed but it's only in our hayfield and gets baled so I rescued eggs and cats to put on the milkweed in my yard. This year I raised and released almost two hundred monarchs but had to get leaves from other sources and also gave away an additional 120 baby cats for others to raise. Except for the leaves I got from other sources, I mostly fed mine tropical milkweed but it's annual here. I need a better plan for next year.

I have several a. tuberosa that I started from seed in 2021 but I think I remember reading that they don't like to switch to that.

I have purple milkweed but it's struggling to survive.

I have two swamp milkweed plants that I planted in large containers last spring and I'm hoping those will return.

I have one showy milkweed seedling that's barely over an inch tall so I can't imagine that it's going to produce a lot of leaves next year.

If I winter sow common milkweed, how big will it get the first season? And how long will it survive in a container because it's too aggressive to put in my yard. I tried that several years ago and it was way too happy in my yard. lol

I'm going to winter sow prairie milkweed and whorled milkweed but I assume those will still be tiny next summer.

I'm saving seeds and taking cuttings of my tropical milkweed but what else would you suggest?

Has anyone grown giant milkweed as an annual? I'm thinking about trying that especially if it would outgrow my tropical in a season. The seeds are kinda pricey though.

Wow you have a lot of eggs being laid! Very cool.

I can't answer those questions, but for any type of plant that you want to make more mass, nip the growth tip early in the spring, so it starts to branch out low to the ground. Then you will have bushy plants with multiple branches, vs. very tall plants with just 1 stem.

I caved and ordered some Giant Milkweed seeds to try and may get some balloon plant seeds too (hairy balls milkweed). I think that one can be grown as an annual here too.
I took LOTS of cuttings from my tropical milkweed to root in water so I hope some of those make it through the winter. I had success with that last year. I procrastinated terribly before potting them up but they survived. They were in a glass salsa jar of water all winter and into spring before I finally put them in pots. In the past, I tried to pot them up too soon and they died so I'm going to try procrastinating again. : )
Thank you for the tip on pinching. I think that would be helpful with tropical milkweed and I'm wondering if swamp milkweed will branch if it's pinched too. That one got very tall and spindly in it's container. Do you leave some growth when you pinch it back? I think I'm going to be nervous about pinching it back too far.

Happy to suggest : )

If you nip off just the tip where the new growth is, it shouldn't affect the size of the plant or cause it to look pruned.

There are so many aphids on my MW plants, I don't think I'll be able to keep any cuttings this winter.

The monarchs are gone here so I sprayed my tropical milkweed with insecticidal soap and then hosed them off. I have cuttings and potted tropical milkweed in the house and I know from experience that they'll be covered with aphids again soon no matter how hard I try. Those things multiply like crazy even outside where they have predators but in the house it's way worse. I need to do some research and see if there's anything else that I can use over winter that won't poison my monarchs next spring when I put them back out.
But - it's easier to remove aphids from cuttings than it is from potted plants so maybe you could try.
I haven't gotten my giant milkweed seeds yet. When I ordered them from Etsy it said "ships from Kansas" but when I got the confirmation it said it was shipping from India. So those may get confiscated before they get to me. Hope not.

Thank you for the suggestion! Let us know how it goes. I can't risk MW plants causing a huge aphid party among all of my other plants. It challenges my schedule to keep all of them watered.

Hopefully some of the seeds that I scattered around will sprout and be next years' plants. I had a handful of volunteers this year so I feel optimistic about that part.

There are still a lot of butterflies & bees around here. Crazy weather, still in the 80's here, but Tues the high will only be 65 and right now, the low Wed. says 36. I guess Tuesday is fall here. LOL! I'm glad to have it. Some years it just goes from 80 to frost and there is no fall, just fell.