Native Plants in Bloom: Poke Milkweed

For the first time, we have Poke Milkweed blooming in our garden and it is a really incredible sight. A woodland milkweed species, it does well in full or part shade, prefers moist or medium soil moisture, and can grow up to 5 feet tall. Its beautiful flowers hang downward among elegant leaves and look almost like spider fangs (chelicerae in entomological parlance). The flowers, ranging from pink to white, are much more loosely held than than other milkweed species like Common milkweed that features more tightly packed globular clusters.

Here in New York, our plants begin blooming in May, which makes them the earliest blooming milkweed species we have (our other species are Butterfly, Whorled, Common, Purple, and Rose). They're great in garden contexts and don't spread aggressively like Common Milkweed can. 

Like other milkweeds, Poke Milkweed draws a diverse crowd of pollinators, from Bumble bees to Leafcutters and Sweat bees to butterflies and moths. Ants are also drawn to them like other milkweeds. And, of course, being a milkweed, it attracts egg-laying Monarch butterflies to it because it serves as a Monarch caterpillar food plant.

We've been growing them for the past two years as seedlings and, for us at least, they tend to have a lower germination rate than Common or Rose milkweed. But now that we've seen them bloom, we're definitely going to install more of them in the garden and if successful, we will begin selling seed packets for them.

We are often asked which natives will work for shade and this species is one that we always recommend. Already, it is clearly attracting a more diverse group of pollinators than we have ever seen for other great shade plants like Sweet Joe Pye and Great Blue Lobelia. As a gorgeous shade plant and pollinator powerhouse, Poke Milkweed truly deserves a place in more gardens.