u/Squishy_Boy

Hey all! I grew these milkweeds from seed and the seed packet was marked as Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa). All of my milkweeds look like the ones in pic #2, but I have this one plant that looks different.

The plant in pic #1 has a distinctly more red interior on the flower than #2. #2 is completely orange, just like all the other 10-20 of the ones I have. #1 also has a more pale green leaf color, and to my eye it is slightly more broad in its morphology.

Pic #3 is a side-by-side where both plants are in frame. #1 is on the left, #2 is on the right. I apologize for not being able to get the flowers from #1 in frame at the same time.

Are these the same species? Is this some genetic mutation? I’d be very happy if I have grown a second milkweed species by mistake, and I’d be equally happy if this is an expected mutation. I am just curious at the end of the day.

Original content recorded this evening. My partner and I cleaned out his ear. This was the most exciting part, but there was minor debris removed before and after this clip. I edited all that out to keep the video from going too long.

Enjoy!

My partner was on a walk and told me about some worm balls he saw. I had to seize the opportunity to rescue them!

I put them into some relatively new garden beds that I built. I hope they enjoy their new homes!

I bought a peach tree from [BIG BOX HARDWARE STORE] at the end of spring in 2024. (I know now that this was a blunder and I will not repeat it.) I kept it in a pot in part sun for all of that summer, finally putting it in the ground at the beginning of autumn that same year.

I had my doubts after the following winter, but it came back and even flowered at the beginning of spring 2025. I was diligent and plucked off most of the early fruits because I knew the tree couldn’t yet support them. I wanted it to get bigger before allowing it to set fruit.

This year, 2026, I let it keep all the fruits that started after flowering ended. I put a plastic berry cage (the kind that strawberries come in) onto a single fruit because the squirrels are raging bastards here. Turns out, that’s the one I have in my hand.

It was the brightest, juiciest peach I’ve ever had. I can’t necessarily say it was worth all that I have done from the start, but at least I have hope that the future will be bright, juicy, and delicious.

Hoping for many more!

I made eleven plates of tissue cultures from a fresh P. tabulaeformis specimen I obtained. I’m not familiar with what the mycelium looks like for this species, but I have to assume some of these are contaminated based on the differences from plate to plate.

Anyone have any ideas on what this could be? Is there any chance at all that it is normal for this species?