Oh brother, WisconsinTom, I have studied extensively on Monsanto, their products, their GMO crops and you have no clue. But keep after it you are getting paid well by Monsanto I'm sure. But as you try and pretend to be the "reasonable" one here, I will remind the others that you are the one that named called with your post by starting out the "level of ignorance here in the above post" dated Sept 18. You were talking about me in that post, but you have no clue to my education on the subject or scientific research people in my family have done on the subject. The only knee jerk reactions are your own and I could school you on the subject but will not waste my time. I hope you are getting paid well. Oh and lastly Europe has totally outlawed all GMO crops, as has Hawaii except for the grandfathered in Papaya. But ignore all the recent scientific studies that came out this year on what's killing bees and monarchs among other insects and yes I remember the ads by tobacco companies that said their was no evidence that smoking caused lung cancer too....lol This post was edited by joeinmo on Mon, Sep 29, 14 at 20:14

Tiffy, I remember you posting a pic of the Tropical Milkweed you overwintered indoors and saw the red leaves you noted. I sowed many Tropical Milkweed indoors under lights so they'd bloom before frost and they're just beautiful. I have the red leaves also. I'm ripping them off since some of mine seem to have some black spotting and I'm always worried about OE. I'm stripping leaves off Swamp Milkweed everyday that are yellowing and/or have black spots. Did I say the Tropical Milkweed has beautiful flowers? LOL It's being used more than Incarnata or Tuberosa by Monarchs for ovipositing. The Tropicals are a must again next year but I'll start indoors again to assure blooms...if the little cats would stop eating the tiny flower stems and ruining my potential seed pods...LOL. Since I don't have a place inground with enough sun I've got the Tropicals in huge containers with Verbena bonariensis that draws in anything that likes nectar. Naturally, I "rescued" the huge storage containers from my condo development's recycling center last fall. Sanitized multiple times, spray painted with plastic paint, put in drainage holes and voila...huge containers. They took WAY more potting mix than I had anticipated so that's where the real cost came in. All in all, well worth the expense to see those blooms and pollinators buzzing around all day in addition to Monarch cats. Wish they didn't have red leaf/black spots problem but no more so than yellow leaf/black spots problem with Incarnata & Tuberosa. Fill the world with Milkweed! :)

Hmmm...it is interesting to hear how some plants are doing well in one area and not another. Mine grows on the north side of my house in almost full shade. I never water it. It drops seed wherever and they come up wherever. At some point in the season, it starts to look stressed. The little ones I leave look healthier than the parent. Yet, this plant has been going for at least four years and is sending up shoots now. ericwi mentioned that they have soils with high clay content. We do too in SW Ohio. The soils are very alkaline. This milkweed is commonly found in our fens. I wonder if it doesn't prefer a more alkaline soil. Anybody out there growing it in very acidic soils? Or even an more neutral, high organic soil? -Elisabeth

My "Cinderella" are the ones I'm yanking. They look horrendous. My plain ole light pink swamp on the south side of the house look pretty good. My red swamps in pots look great too, although they're turning yellow. My white swamps in pots (new plants this year) look great as well. I haven't had a mildew problem, just dark/bruised foliage for months, two years in a row. So, they're outta here! I'll be checking this thread as well, since I'd love to expand the varieties that I grow. I did just order seed from somebody, what varieties & from who escapes me at the moment, and I'm sure that surprises nobody here ;) I had some verbena bonariensis and verbena hastata, loaded with mildew, right next to my red swamp pots, and they didn't get any mildew, surprisingly... This is a pic from last year; this year, they look even worse (much darker):