The host plant for the Monarch caterpillar is milkweed. This is the only plant the caterpillar will eat. If a caterpillar does not have milkweed, it will die.

The female Monarch lays her eggs on the milkweed, she will usually lay one egg per leaf to make sure her offspring have enough food to survive. Wild milkweed, known as Asclepias Syriaca is an invasive plant, however. It has a tap root of about 20 feet, so we don't recommend that you plant it in your garden.

We do recommend Asclepias Incarnata (known as Swamp Milkweed). This plant is a perrenial in our area. We sell our lifecycle kits using Currassavica plants with Incarnata seeds planted in the pot.

When you are through watching the lifecycle and let your butterflies fly free, you can plant the plant in your garden. This way you'll have host plant for the Monarchs for years to come!

Incarnata Plants

We sell the incarnata plants in one gallon pots for $10 each, and 3 gallon pots for $18 each. This does not include any butterfly eggs. To get the plant with butterfly eggs, see our Lifecycle Kits section.

Photos compliments of Janet Whitesell.