Nursery Update !
We’re excited to announce that our big move is complete! We are currently hard at work installing the greenhouse and laying down the nursery ground cover to get everything ready for a fantastic spring season.
Mark your calendars—our official opening date is set for March of this year. We can’t wait to welcome you to our new location and share all the exciting developments we’ve been working on. Stay tuned for updates and sneak peeks as we finalize the setup!
Newest arrivals.
Rare Plants
Orange Butterfly Milkweed
Rare Milkweed
Aristolochia tomentosa, Wooley Dutchman's pipevine. A 20 ft. vine prefers damp soils. Larval host for the Pipevine Swallowtail and the Polydamas Swallowtail, $ 20
Rare Milkweed
Orange Butterfly Milkweed
Rare Milkweed
Asclepias verticillata, WHorled Milkweed prefers drier rocky sandy soils.1 to 3 feet tall by 1 foot wide. This milkweed is highly toxic to cattle. Exercise extreme caution in areas where it is found. $12 needed.
Orange Butterfly Milkweed
Orange Butterfly Milkweed
Orange Butterfly Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa, Orange Butterfly Milkweed prefers drier soil. Growing 1 to 3 ft. by 2 ft. It truly holds up to itts name and is a butterfly attractor. $12
Snowy White Milkweed
Giant African Milkweed
Orange Butterfly Milkweed
Asclepias perennis, Snowy White Milkweed is a true swamp milkweed. $12
Hibiscus coccineaus
Giant African Milkweed
Giant African Milkweed
Scarlet hibiscus (Hibiscus coccineus) is commonly found along wetland and stream edges, as well as in swamps and other wet, open areas. Its deep red flowers make it particularly appealing to hummingbirds, butterflies, and various other pollinators. $8
Giant African Milkweed
Giant African Milkweed
Giant African Milkweed
Giant African Milkweed is available in limited quantities. These are larger than what I have been carrying. 1 gal. pot $20
Sky-blue Cluster Vine
Sky-blue Cluster Vine
Sky-blue Cluster Vine
Six to twelve-foot sprawling vines. Can be trellised or used as ground cover. A long-lived perennial with sky-blue flowers from Fall to Spring. Full Sun. Provides seed for birds. Excellent pollinator plant. $28
Standing Cypress
Sky-blue Cluster Vine
Sky-blue Cluster Vine
Flame red flowers on 2 to 6-foot stems. Biennial slower blooming the second year from seed. Growing in part shade to full Sun. Once established this flower can tolerate dry conditions in sandy soil. Attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. $12
Purple Thistle
Sky-blue Cluster Vine
Bird's Foot Violet
Blooming in the Spring and growing one to four feet tall. and two feet wide. This plant is covered in thorns. Handle carefully! Host plant to the little metalmark (Calephelis virginiensis) and painted lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies. Great nectar source. The seeds contain many essentional oils for the birds that eat them. $12
Bird's Foot Violet
Bird's Foot Violet
Bird's Foot Violet
Birds's Foot Violet has deeply lobed leaves like that of a bird's foot. It grows best in full sun to partial-shade. It has purple flowers and orange centers. Growing six inches tall. $12
Our Focus
Butterfly gardens focus on nectar and host plants
Here in Hernando County, we have butterflies and native pollinators that do not migrate. Butterfly gardens focus on year-round nectar sources. Host plants offer a place for butterflies to lay their eggs. By planting host plants you will have mating pairs of butterflies offering twice the number.
Landscaping Services Available
Consider adding a pollinator garden. Maybe you would like to attract more butterflies? How about a garden to attract birds? Reconsider those flowerbeds in the front yard?
Offering Milkweed for Monarchs
Offering Milkweed for Monarchs
One of my goals as a milkweed nursery is to carry more varieties of Florida native milkweed that any other nursery in Florida. Because of this I raise much of my milkweed from seed to sale. I do not use pesticides or chemicals. I follow organic practices when raising milkweed.
Florida native milkweeds
What we are about
Here at the Milkweed Man Plant Nursery, we grow Florida native milkweeds. We offer Florida native wildflowers as well. With an extensive knowledge of native and non-native plants, we offer landscape design in many forms. From a community pollinator garden to fully landscaped lawns. We can design formal to naturalized gardens for your landscape.
Planting "Spring"
Florida's growing season starts well before the rest of the country. Therefore, I consider February 2nd, Groundhog Day to be the first day of "Planting" Spring. This is a great time to start planting hardy plants. More tender frost sensitive plants are best planted in March. Starting as early as Janurary, the native milkweed is waking up, going through a fast growth rate to bloom and produce seed before the Monarch's arrival usually coming to a peak in May.
An Educational Experience
The Milkweed Man Nursery is a teaching nursery. I strive to educate the public in the care and raising of the plants I sell. I do my best to teach about Florida's Monarchs and other native butterfly populations. Together we can make a difference. That difference must be achieved with the proper steps in raising caterpillars and offering native nectar sources for adult butterflies and pollinators. Many of our pollinators are not adapted to non-native plants and don't always use them as a nectar source.
Most asked questions:
The most asked questing is: "Are the plants safe for the Monarchs to eat?" The answer? Yes, all milkweed is raised without the use of pesticides. Fertilizers are organic. Aphids are taken care of by beneficial insects or a spray of water. By checking daily for possible problem areas, many times infestations don't occur.
Photo Gallery of Native and Non-native Milkweeds
Whorled Milkweed, Asclepias verticillata
Rosy Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata
Orange Butterfly Milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa
Snowy White Milkweed, Asclepias perennis
Pinewoods Milkweed, Asclepias humistrata
Red Ring Milkweed, Asclepias variegata
Expanded Inventory to the Nursery!
Black-eyed Susans
2 to 3 feet tall. Full Sun. This Southern gardener's favorite is a great nectar source. Readily reseeds emerging the following Spring. NATIVE
Butterfly Bush
These fragrant flowers attract multitudes of butterflies. An excellent non-native addition to butterfly gardens. (A Question Mark Butterfly, "Polygonia interrogationis" was feeding on mine at the nursery)
Cooley' Waterwillow, Justicia pringlei
Only growing to one foot tall, these vibrant pink flowers truly stand out. These flowers grow in full or part shade. This endangered flower is endemic to the Brooksville ridge. NATIVE
Coral Honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens
This vine grows 12 to 15 feet. They bloom more when trellised. This hardy vine will bloom and fruit year-round, even with frost and freeze. NATIVE
Corky Stem Passion Vine
This small vine reaches 15ft. It is best trellised. Host plant for Gulf Fritillary and Zebra Longwing Butterflies. Birds and small mammals consume fruit. NATIVE
Daisy Fleabane, Erigon quecifolius
1 to 2 feet tall. Spreads by seed and root. Frost and freeze tolerant. Great Winter nectar source. NATIVE
Dotted Horsemint, Monarda punctata
Two to five feet tall, very drought tolerant. Full Sun. Attracts hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, and moths. NATIVE
False Nettles
2.5 to 3 feet tall, preferring damp soil, and does well-preferring part shade to full shade. Host plant for Question Mark Butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis), Red Admiral Butterfly (Vanessa atalanta), Eastern Comma Butterfly (Polygonia comma) NATIVE
Firebush, var. Calusa
This native Firebush is a hybridized variety. The growth is much more compact growing 6 to 8 ft. tall. Offering year-round color in the dark red leaves. The blooms are a brighter orange-red. This bush is the most visited plant in the nursery. Attracting butterflies, bumble bees,
Giant Ironweed, Veronia gigantea
This flower grows up to six feet tall, growing in full Sun or part shade. Nectar attracts butterflies and bees.
Larval host for spring azure butterfly. NATIVE
Hairy Cowpea, Vigna lutea
This vine can reach 10 feet and can mound up to 6 feet. The yellow blooms can appear year-round mainly fruiting in the Fall.
Larval host plant for cassius blue (Leptotes cassius), dorantes longtail (Urbanus dorantes), gray hairstreak (Strymon melinus), and long-tailed skipper (Urbanus proteus) butterflies. (Host plant Info. Florida Native Plant Society) NATIVE
Large Flower False Rosemary, Condradina grandiflora
2 to 4 feet tall. Long-lived perennial. Full Sun. Drought tolerant once established. NATIVE
Muhly Grass, Muhlenbergia capillaris
Up to four feet tall, drought tolerant once established. Small birds enjoy the seed. NATIVE
Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea
Growing 3 to 5 feet tall Attracts many pollinators. Birds and small animals consume the seed. NATIVE
Purple Passion vine, Passiflora incarnata
Growing to 25 feet long, this vine needs to be trellised. Winter dormant. Produces and edible fruit. Purple passionflower is larval host plant for numerous butterfly species, including Gulf Fritillary (Agraulis vanillae) and Zebra Longwing (Heliconius charithonia), the state butterfly of Florida. It also is host to the Crimson Patch Longwing (Heliconius erato), Red-banded hairstreak (Calycopis cecrops)and Julia Heliconian (Dryas iulia) butterflies. (Host plant info. Florida Native Plant SociTIVE
Spiderwort, Tradenscantia ohiensis
Two to three feet tall, full Sun part shade, drought tolerant once established. NATIVE
Stoke's Aster, Stokesia laevis
1 to 1 1/2 feet tall. This will multiply at the root growing larger over the years. Attracts many pollinators. NATIVE
Sunshine Mimosa, Mimosa strigillosa
Sunshine Mimosa is an excellent ground cover. Only growing 6 inches tall. This can take part to full Sun. Drought tolerent once established. It is a larval host plant to the "Little Sulphur Butterfly."
Swamp Hibiscus, Hibiscus coccineus
This long-lived perennial can grow to 8 feet. This hibiscus prefers a damp soil. Winter dormant. Attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. Larval host of Gray Hairstreak, Painted Lady Butterfly, Common Checkered Skipper, and Tropical Checkered Skipper butterflies and four moths: Pearly Wood Nymph, Yellow Scallop Moth, Io Moth, and Delightful Bird-Dropping Moths. (Larval host plant info. Florida Native Plant Society) NATIVE
West Coast Dune Sunflower, Helianthus deblis, subsp. vestitus
This drought-tolerant flower is found on the beaches of Florida. Growing 2 to 3 feet tall. Pollinated by bees and butterflies. NATIVE
Wild Petunia, Ruellia caroliniensis
1 to 2.1/2 feet tall. Winter dormant. Excellent nectar source for pollinators. Host plant for Common Buckeye and White Peacock Butterflies. NATIVE
Wild Sweet Basil
Growing to one foot, prefers a damp soil. Will reseed readily. May be used in the kitchen. State endangered plant. NATIVE
Yellowtops, Flaveria linearis
This perennial grow to three feet tall. It blooms in the Fall and Winter making it an important nectar source for many non-migratory pollinators. NATIVE
Add a footnote if this applies to your business
A little about the owner, Shawn
Additional Information
When I was four years old, living in Northern Illinois, my mother told me she was going to show me where the seeds hide. She led me to an orange marigold—one of her favorites—plucked a dried seed head, opened it in her palm, and revealed the seeds inside. She scattered them over the garden, and that simple act left a lasting impression on me.
Years later, I was lucky enough to attend a newly built high school with an attached greenhouse. Naturally, I enrolled in horticulture during my senior year. Each student picked two flowers to grow from seed in January, nurturing them until we sold the plants at year’s end. At the time, I lived with my aunt and bought every variety of petunia for her. We filled the raised beds flanking her front door. After the first frost that fall, Aunt Ethel began to pull out the wilted petunias, but I suggested she stomp them into the ground so they’d reseed in spring. She listened—and sure enough, the petunias returned. Twenty years later, Aunt Ethel, known as the "Petunia Lady," would laugh, saying, “I can’t get rid of them!”
In 1986, I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, drawn by the promise of better weather. A decade later, I settled in Spring Hill, taking a year to remodel my home and landscape the yard.
By 2015, I had moved to my current home. Two years later, I started a vegetable garden. It was a challenge, but I persevered. As I read and learned, I discovered that California vineyards had begun planting native plants at the ends of their rows, which led to healthier, more productive crops. Inspired, I decided to try the same approach. That’s how my passion for native plants truly began.
I have moved once again, and in time, this new property will be thoughtfully landscaped as well.
Myself at Buchart Gardens, Victoria Canada. 100 Year Anniversary.
The Petunia Garden
Fourth of July family reunion, 1982
Aunt Ethel with her daughter, Robin and son, Tom. On the front steps in front of the petunia garden.