It’s a little after 2pm on Saturday September 3rd, 2011 and I pulled into the driveway 2 hours ago from a trip up to the Sierra Nevadas to collect Purple Milkweed, Asclepias cordifolia, seeds. The trip started very early in the morning, 5:30 am to be exact! My wife and I have a little girl who is just over two months old and I wanted to be able to spend at least half of my Saturday with them.

Once I got on the road this morning I made good time, at that hour on a Saturday morning there is absolutely no traffic. Made it into Oakley, CA around 7:00am and stopped at the Corner Cafe for some breakfast. If you’re ever in the area, they serve an excellent “Chorizo Scrambler” breakfast.

Purple Milkweed Site

Another hour on the road and I couldn’t resist the need to get my caffeine fix at Starbucks in Sonora so that I would be prepared for seed collecting. Seriously, one must be very alert as the location I’m about to collect seeds at. It is located on a rocky outcropping where rattle snakes like to take in some morning sun. The truth is I’m an espresso junky, but being alert for rattle snakes will justify the purchase of my quad shot cappuccino today.

About 15 miles east of Pinecrest, CA I arrived at my final destination. This is a such a great place to collect Purple Milkweed seeds because in a relatively small place, there are roughly 100 plants. One of the most dense occurrences of Purple Milkweed that I’ve been able to find in California.

Truth be told, I was just up here two weeks ago with a buddy of mine and the pods were not ripe yet. I’ve been collecting seeds for this species for over 15 years now and typically they are ripe in mid August. I’ve never collected from freshly ripened pods in September. This 2 week delay is definitely due to the unseasonably cool Spring and Summer we are experiencing.

Purple Milkweed Seed Pods

The seed production at the site this year is definitely above average. I was able to collect the few ounces of seed that we’ll be offering to our customers at Butterfly Encounters, while not even making a dent in the total seed production that will hopefully have positive influence on keeping the species alive and well in this area.

On my way home I was reflecting on my initial search for this species of milkweed. I think I was 15 years old, in the back seat of my parents car on a trip up to Pinecrest Lake for a family vacation. I had heard from other Monarch Butterfly enthusiasts that Purple Milkweed grew in the area. I’ll never forget the excitement of spotting that first Purple Milkweed plant in Twain Heart, CA and making my mom pull over so I could check it out. Once I got my drivers license I was back in the area exploring and finally stumbled upon the site I was just at today.

In closing, let me leave you with some photographs that I took a few years ago of the Purple Milkweed in full bloom.

Bobby

Purple Milkweed Flowers

Purple Milkweed Flowers