Learn the basics of our native plants to get the most out of your garden
Native Milkweeds
Senescence
There are many species of native milkweeds in the Houston area. Our native milkweeds were made for our region. Once established, they are drought-tolerant and require little to no maintenance. Their long taproots help them to reach water deep in the ground. They also go through periods of senescence where they drop their leaves, the stems shrivel up, and the whole plant appears to die. Fear not…the taproot is still alive and the plant will return with new growth.
Senescence is one of their most important traits, especially in our warm climate. This keeps the plant disease-free.
Native milkweed seeds require a period of cold moist stratification to break dormancy and begin growing. This special treatment makes them difficult to grow at home and most commercial growers choose to grow other milkweeds that don’t have the requirement of CMS. This is why you don’t see native milkweeds available at the majority of plant stores and garden centers.
Senescence is by definition: the growth phase in a plant or plant part (such as a leaf) from full maturity to death.
In the Houston area, extreme heat, drought, or sometimes even too much water, can cause milkweed plants to go into senescence. Many gardeners see the plant die down and assume it has died. A taproot can stay dormant for weeks to months. It is important to have your native milkweed marked so that you don’t dig it up or cover it by accident.
When your native milkweed goes into senescence, don’t worry, it will grow back!
Mosquitos
Tropical Milkweed
If you live in Houston, then you are familiar with the constant battle against mosquitos. Many people utilize sprays, fog, or even mosquito control systems throughout their yards. Unfortunately, these can also have a negative effect on your favorite pollinators who visit your gardens.
To solve this problem, we suggest using mosquito dunks to make mosquito traps and placing a few around your property. Mosquito dunks can be purchased at most hardware stores and garden centers, even some grocery stores carry them in their household/garden sections.
Simply add some water into a bucket, add the mosquito dunk, and set it out of sight. These are safe and effective. Be sure to dump any standing water after rain, or add a mosquito dunk to it as well.
Tropical milkweed (A. curassivica) is a non-native milkweed that thrives in our climate and the seeds do not require CMS. For this reason, it is abundantly available at most garden centers and plant stores.
Tropical milkweed continues to grow after our native milkweeds have died back to the ground. This becomes problematic when diseased butterflies visit the plant and leave OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha) spores on the plant. When a new egg is laid, the tiny caterpillar will consume the diseased plant along with the OE spores and the protozoan parasite lives on. When that caterpillar turns into a butterfly, it will carry the spores to other plants. Butterflies heavily infested with OE will eclose (hatch from their chrysalis) deformed, be unable to fly, or have shortened life spans. Monarchs, Queens, and Solider butterflies are all affected by OE.
Some gardeners take advantage of tropical milkweed’s positive traits and continue to grow it. Many claim it is not detrimental as long as you trim it back multiple times per year, mimicking our native milkweed’s periods of senescence, to ensure the plant is fresh and disease-free.
We believe every gardener should make their own decision on tropical milkweed. If you do include tropical milkweed in your space, we urge you to maintain your plants responsibly.
Pest Control
A native plant garden is a well-balanced ecosystem. We suggest not using pesticides, herbicides, or weedkiller in your gardens. Some natural concoctions containing soap can also damage your plants in the long run. While they may eliminate unwanted pests, they will also harm the beneficial bugs and our favorites: butterflies, moths, bees, and other pollinators.
So what’s the alternative? Let nature take its course. Our goal is to provide you with plants that can thrive without much intervention and become a working ecosystem. You may see a wasp preying on a caterpillar or have aphids on some of your plants. These are all a part of a balanced ecosystem that will fix themselves. Ladybug larvae will come in and eat the aphids. Natural predators will pick off the monarch caterpillars that you see in the fall during migration.
For information on pests, predators, and biocontrol agents, visit Cornell’s Entomology site.
Defintions
Annual: A plant that germinates, flowers, sets seed, and dies, all in one season. The original plant will not come back the following year, but new plants may grow from the original plant’s seeds.
Etiolate: An adjective to describe plants that have been deprived of sunlight. Plants appear pale (lacking green) and drawn out due to a lack of light.
Invasive plant: A plant that tends to spread quickly or aggressively; dispersing easily usually to the detriment of native species and ecosystems.
Native plant: A plant is considered native if it has occurred naturally in a particular region, ecosystem, or habitat without human introduction.
Naturalized: The term "naturalized plant" refers to a non-native species that is growing on its own in nature. Becoming naturalized does not make an introduced species native.
Non-native plant: A plant species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there by human activity, directly or indirectly, and either deliberately or accidentally. Non-native species can have various effects on the local ecosystem.
Perennial: A plant that grows and blooms over the spring and summer, dies back every autumn and winter, and then returns in the spring from its rootstock.
Senescence: The term has a specialized meaning in plant biology. Part of a plant’s growth cycle, generally referring to the process or condition of growing old and dying. It does not mean the entire plant has died, but certain parts of the plant that will regenerate and grow back.
Asclepias viridis going into senescence - these plants are not dead! The rootstock will produce new growth in the coming weeks/months.