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Calotropis procera

I first saw the plant at Fairchild Tropical Gardens. It was loaded with a variety of butterflies including Atala's. I was able to get cuttings of a plant while visiting a MG's garden. I placed one stem in water another with diluted rooting hormone (7 parts sand 1 part hormone) in dirt and a third with no hormone in dirt. The cuttings were all placed in the shade. After about two weeks all of them were sprouting new shoots.

I have no problem propogating this plant here in Palm Beach Gardens FL. Whenever I trim it back, it tends to get large, I just put the removed stems in a plastic pot with sand or sometimes potting soil, and in a few weeks have a new plant growing. We raise monarchs and I remove leaves to feed them in their cages.... much better than the tropical scarlet milkweed leaves because these leaves are much larger and do not dry out as fast when removed from the plant. However, the monarchs do not lay eggs on the plants that are growing in the garden for some reason. They always prefer the scarlet milkweed for their eggs. Dunno why as I have seen monarchs on other folk giant milkweed plants.

Wow I just love this plant the pictures just don't do any justice to this beautiful bloom..... I've done a little research on this plant and also belive it to be Calotropis ginantea AKA: Crown Flower, Giant Milkweed

A friend and neighbor in our village has several Giant Milkweed in her yard. She has two types. One with the lavender blooms as seen in the pictures and also one with white blooms. There are usually lots of butterflies around them. My friend has been successful in propagating by rooting stems. I was told recently she had some rooted for me. Can't wait to get and plant them.

This is probably my favorite of the milkweeds. Full sun, moderate water, occasional pruning. I got mine at the nursery I work at. We only got in two in & I snatched it up right away because I had never seen one at the time. Right now mine is covered in monarch larvae. The bottom of my plants chewed beyond recognition - which is great. Aphids a serious problem at times but lady bugs tend to keep them in check and the aphid problem clears up within a few days. Right now it's sending up new shoots along the old ones. Once they grow up a bit I will be dividing it from the rest of the plant in order to start a few new ones.

I was in Palmetto Florida last week - there was a 15 ft Giant Milkweed across the street in bloom with purple/lavender flowers. It is in full sun, in sandy soil, and is subjected to onshore and offshore winds from the Tera Ceia Bay. The homeowner said it is unusually large and attracts hundreds of butterflys. Propagation is apparently difficult, as they have only been able to get one successful start from it - they gave it to me in a large pot. It had scale on it, but the gardener said it was easily handled with a mixture of Murphy's Oil Soap and water sprayed on it. It will be intersting to see how it grows in a pot inside during the winter and outside during temperate weather. **I would like to know about standard propagation methods!