Rose Milkweed
Asclepias incarnata
Photo by Martha Moss
Summary
What’s that lovely vanilla fragrance you’re smelling? Chances are it’s coming from the rosy-pink flowers of rose milkweed, AKA swamp milkweed. Like other members of the Asclepias genus, this milkweed is often used by monarch butterflies as a host plant. Its fragrant blooms last for about a month in mid-summer, followed by large seedpods. As one of its common names suggests, this milkweed prefers moist soil, making it a good choice for rain gardens and wetter areas in your pollinator garden.
More Details
FAMILY
Apocynaceae (Dogbane)
BLOOM TIME
July-August
FLOWER
Pink Magenta
MATURE SIZE
3-5 feet
LIGHT REQUIREMENT
Sun/Part Sun
SOIL CONDITIONS
Average - Moist
NATIVE STATUS
PA Native
Ecosystem Connections
Rose milkweed’s flowers are visited by a diverse range of insects, including bees, wasps, ants, flies, butterflies, moths and beetles. An ingenious pollination strategy utilizes the milkweed’s unique flower structure. Insects grasp one the five flower hoods, sliding their tongues down the side of the hood to access nectar. In the process, their legs may slip into slots between the hoods, and become entangled with the milkweed’s pollen sacs (pollinia). As they travel to another flower, these sacs may be transferred and cross-pollination occurs.
Monarch butterfly caterpillars and milkweed leaf beetles feed on the flowers and foliage. Monarch butterflies are specialists of milkweeds, and it is the larval host for the monarch butterfly and milkweed tussock moth.