Photos, left to right: Monarch caterpillar on swamp milkweed (Xerces Society / Stephanie McKnight); Bumblebee on butterfly milkweed (Xerces Society / Sarah Foltz Jordan); Monarch over showy milkweed (Xerces Society / Stephanie McKnight)

Milkweed Seed Finder

Native milkweeds (Asclepias spp.) are essential for monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) caterpillars and support a diversity of pollinators with their abundant nectar. By including milkweeds in gardens, landscaping, wildlife habitat restoration projects, and native revegetation efforts, you can provide breeding habitat for monarchs as well as a valuable nectar source for butterflies, bees, and other beneficial insects. As part of our Project Milkweed, we have created this comprehensive national directory of milkweed seed vendors to help you find sources of seed. To learn more about monarch butterflies and how you can participate in conservation efforts, please visit the Xerces Society’s Monarch Butterfly Conservation page or the Monarch Joint Venture webpage.



Please scroll down to use the search feature. We also advise you to read the important considerations detailed here:

When Using the Milkweed Seed Finder, Please Note:

Milkweed seed is currently unavailable in several areas of the country. If you do not receive any results when you search by state, we have not learned of any milkweed vendors located there. Please search other states in your region for vendors who may carry local ecotype seed that is appropriate for planting in your area.

A seed vendor’s physical address does not always reflect the origin of the seed that they carry. Please always ask vendors for information about seed origin and try to plant seed that is as locally sourced as possible .

. Some of the vendors listed are wholesale only and require a minimum order amount.

In most parts of the country, it is best to plant milkweed seed in the fall; however spring planting is possible in some areas. Please ask your regional seed vendor for planting recommendations.

Milkweed Availability and the Nursery Industry

At present, nearly 40 milkweed species are available as seed to varying degrees, although availability varies widely by region. Through Project Milkweed, we have been working to change this in several states, but notable gaps in availability remain.



In addition to seed, several nurseries also sell milkweed transplants (“plugs”). Please ask your regional vendors about availability. For regional lists of native plant nurseries, visit our Pollinator Conservation Resource Center.

Species Selection

We encourage you to only plant milkweed species that are native to your area. The Biota of North America Program’s (BONAP) web-based North American Plant Atlas provides county-level distribution information for all Asclepias species in the lower 48 states (milkweeds are not native to Alaska and Hawaii). Please refer to BONAP’s map color key for detailed information, and note that dark green indicates that the species is present within the state, while bright green shows that the species is documented to occur in that specific county. However, these maps do not convey the abundance of the species within each county.



For recommendations of which species to plant on a regional basis please download this fact sheet by the Monarch Joint Venture.



Three Asclepias species have been introduced to the United States: tropical milkweed (A. curassavica), African milkweed (A. fruticosa), and swan or balloon plant (A. physocarpa). Of these, tropical milkweed (also called blood flower or scarlet milkweed) is the most widely available from commercial sources. However, there is preliminary evidence that where tropical milkweed has been introduced, its presence may cause monarchs to reproduce outside of their regular breeding season, disrupt monarchs’ migratory cycle, and increase transmission and virulence of the protozoan parasite (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha). Thus, some monarch scientists are concerned that the planting of tropical milkweed may lead to negative impacts on monarch health. For more information on this topic, please download this fact sheet by the Monarch Joint Venture or read this Q&A, also from the Monarch Joint Venture, about research related to tropical milkweed and monarch parasites.

Seed Sourcing

An ecologically responsible approach is to use seed that is sourced as locally to your property or project site as possible. Milkweed seed can be purchased on the internet from multiple vendors but given some species’ broad distribution across the United States, available seed may be of non-local origin. While some seed companies specialize in locally native seed, many do not advertise seed origin or ecotype, and it should not be assumed that seeds have been collected or produced in the region in which a vendor is located. To identify sources of regionally appropriate seed, please ask prospective vendors for information about seed origin. If milkweed seed is completely unavailable within your region, yet milkweeds are integral to your planting plans, you could consider making arrangements to have seed wild-collected from local populations.

Successful Milkweed Establishment

Successfully establishing milkweed requires some very specific steps. Please refer to our Project Milkweed page for more information on successful milkweed establishment. For those working to Save Western Monarchs by planting milkweed in California, please refer to our fact sheet Native Milkweed in California: Planting and Establishment.

For Seed Vendors

If you are a milkweed seed producer or a native seed company that offers milkweed seed and would like to either be added to this directory or request changes to your vendor entry, please contact us at [email protected].

Questions?

Please see our Milkweed FAQ page, or contact [email protected].