Several months back I started narrowleaf milkweed plants (seeds from livemonarch.com). About a week ago I noticed the first caterpillar, and the next day the second. Today the one at the top of the photo left the plant and started looking for a spot to pupate. Also today, found 4 (!!) more caterpillars amongst the plants. I am beyond thrilled, I never expected to get monarchs actually laying eggs on these plants so soon.
Excellent point and I should have been more clear on my intentions.
You are 100% right you can't get amazon milkweed seeds (if thats a thing) and go nuts. I was planning to wait til fall and collect local seed pods and should have said that. I will edit my post to make sure I am more clear because someone may go the bad route with good intentions and bad things happen.
I will also work on IDing the other variants to make sure the ones I harvest are not invasive but native. Plus if I can ID the invasive species I can do my part to eradicate them as I go along. win/win
Thanks again, I appreciate all constructive criticism and advice. We can't know it all and the road to Hell is paved in good intentions like my original post!
A big nursery near me sells plants that do well with labels like "Texas xeriscape" to imply it's native even if the plant name is something like "African lions mane". You can't even fully trust the internet either because of confusing phrases like "adapted". Yes, anyone with enough knowledge of the issues could understand what they're seeing and know the difference, but they're clearly marketing to well meaning amateurs.
Deceptive marketing, disgusting.