Hello Kay,
I am growing Asclepias curassavica as an annual. This particular
planting is to evaluate the cultivars "Red Butterfly" and " Silky Gold" as
potential cut flower crops for this area. They are listed as 150 day crops,
and I am planting out 50 day, 6 inch, seedlings. If we can get good
flowering by September 1st and there are no unexpected problems I'll promote
them to a full scale production evaluation next year.
The key to making a bit of money on cuts here is coming up with
plants not easily available to, or at least not regularly seen in, the
florist trade. Brokered wholesale marketing has just not worked in this
area. Best is local direct sales, but the farmer's markets and road side
operations are pretty well saturated; so we are exploring direct sales to
local Florist, but they are a bit resistant to trusting local growers. They
want to be able to pick up the phone today, and have the flowers at the door
tomorrow.
There's a big push here in Southern Maryland to explore high dollar
per acre alternatives to tobacco production. Right now, with tobacco
bringing in $3500 to $5000 an acre, there's not many annual production hort
crops that can match those figures.
I have several nice plantings of Asclepias tuberosa, it's a nice
addition to the cactus beds. I'm putting in more Armeria this year and
Nicole wants me to try one of her favorites, Catananche caerulea. Bring on
the xeriphytes!
Bob (free to hit the garden centers this weekend) Stewart
Southern Maryland (USDA Zone 7)
rs72@umail.umd.edu
