A beautiful selection of our native Milkweed, Ice Ballet Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata, features brilliant white, long-blooming flowers with a sweet vanilla scent. A pollinator powerhouse, it attracts butterflies, bees, and others for months. Ice Ballet Swamp Milkweed prefers moist soil but tolerates drought once established. Its willow-like leaves are a preferred food of Monarch caterpillars.

Gather bouquets of Ice Ballet Swamp Milkweed in summer; the long stems are long-lasting and excellent for cutting. Cut flower tip: sear the ends of the cut stems over a flame to stop the milky sap from leaking out. Following the royal flowers, typical milkweed seed pods develop, which rupture to reveal seeds with long, silvery-white, silky hairs. These add a high-style element to dried flower arrangements.

This species grows in loose clumps by means of slowly creeping rhizomes. It is not invasive and can be safely mixed in with other perennials in the border. Ascelpias incarnata is native to Missouri and North America. It is a long-lived perennial.

Plant in full sun in soil that has been amended with organic matter.