Swamp Milkweed

Asclepias incarnata

native · Hill Country

Swamp Milkweed is a wildflower native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 2–5 ft tall and 5 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and high water, and handles clay soil. Blooms pink and purple in fall. Deer rarely browse it. Good for butterflies and hummingbirds.

Wet ground only. A wetland plant: it needs standing water or saturated soil — a pond edge, creek bank or rain garden, not a dry upland bed.

Will it grow in your yard?

Enter your ZIP. The finder checks Swamp Milkweed against your microclimate, then ranks it against your sun, your watering and deer pressure.

The facts

6 sources

Type: Wildflower
Sun: Full sun to part shade (4–8 hrs of direct sun)
Water: High
Height: 2–5 ft
Spread: 5 ft
Bloom: Fall · pink, purple
Foliage: Deciduous or dies back in winter
Soil: Takes clay · recorded on clay, moist, mud, rich
Deer: High — deer rarely browse it
Wildlife: Supports butterflies and hummingbirds

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsEdwards Plateau Woodland

27 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

Also grows here — hard to find. Native and recorded growing in Central Texas, but not on the grower stock lists we read. Sourcing varies: some are stocked widely, others you will have to hunt for.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.