Where to buy native milkweed in Austin

The honest answer first: of the Austin sellers we checked, only one publishes an availability list, and it is a dated snapshot, so we can’t tell you who has antelope horns in stock this week. What we can give you is what we found when we read sellers’ own pages on 23 September 2026, where the native plant sales are, and the two questions to ask before you buy. Stock changes weekly. Call ahead.

What we found on 23 September 2026

Native American Seed (farm at Junction; warehouse and will-call pickup in New Braunfels; seed by mail). Its product pages for antelope horn (Asclepias asperula) and green milkweed (Asclepias viridis) both listed the seed as in stock on 23 September 2026. No zizotes (Asclepias oenotheroides) product appeared among the 126 items in its wildflower-seed pages that day. Its retail-partners page lists The Natural Gardener in Austin.¹ Its contact page gives the warehouse as 8875 Interstate 35 N, New Braunfels, TX 78130, with will-call pickup “9a-4p weekdays,” and asks you to choose the New Braunfels warehouse, “not the farm in Junction” (read 24 September 2026).²

Far South Wholesale Nursery (Austin; a wholesale grower that says on its own site: “We are now open to the public, but be advised we have a very small sales staff because we are typically a wholesale operation”). Its catalog lists all three host milkweeds: “Milkweed, Antelope Horns,” “Milkweed, Spider/ Green” (A. viridis) and “Milkweed, Zizotes (green antelope horn).” “Green antelope horn” is also Texas Parks and Wildlife’s name for green milkweed, so match the Latin name before you order.³ On the availability list we read on 23 September 2026, none of the three had stock listed; swamp white milkweed (Asclepias perennis, not the swamp milkweed in this guide), Texas milkweed and butterfly weed each showed #3 pots.⁴ Its About page gives 1141 Penion Drive, Austin, TX 78748, hours Monday to Friday 8 to 4:30, and (512) 291-4648 (read 24 September 2026).⁵ Treat the availability list as a dated indication, and phone before you go.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s Fall Native Plant Sale runs from 9 October to 1 November 2026, Fridays to Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays are for members only, and garden admission is required (read 5 October 2026). The sale page publishes no species list, so it says nothing about which milkweeds will be offered.⁶ The Center’s own plant database records green milkweed and butterfly weed as commercially available.⁷⁸

Other fall sales near Austin (read 5 October 2026 on each organizer’s own page; check again the day before you go):

• Native Plant Society of Texas, Austin Chapter: Sunday 18 October 2026, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. or until sold out, at Dowell Ranch Preserve, 301 FM 1626, Manchaca. The chapter’s list of expected plants, which it updates as the sale gets closer, includes green milkweed (Asclepias viridis), butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) and whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata). Antelope horns and zizotes were not on it when we read it.⁹
• Wells Branch Wild Conservancy: Saturday 17 October 2026, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. (members from 9). The plant list was not published yet when we read the page, and the page has named two different locations, so check it before you go.¹⁰
• Hays County Master Gardeners Fall Plant and Tree Sale: online orders 14 to 20 October, then in-person shopping and pickup on Wednesday 21 October, 3 to 6 p.m., at the Dripping Springs Farmers Market. It is not a natives-only sale, and its propagation list dated 1 October 2026 has no milkweed, though it has fall nectar plants such as Gregg’s mistflower.¹¹

Those are all the sellers and sales we found. We did not phone anyone, and we don’t name a nursery as stocking a plant unless we saw it listed. If you know a retail nursery in Austin that grows native milkweed, tell us, and we’ll check before we add it.

Why plant sales are a good place to look

Monarch Watch: “The best places to find pesticide-free native plants are at local nurseries or at plant sales hosted by local environmental organizations, native plant societies, or Extension Master Gardeners.”¹² The reason is the second question below.

Two questions to ask at the counter

The Latin name. “Green milkweed” is used for two different species, and the milkweed most widely sold at nurseries is tropical milkweed, the one to avoid.¹³¹⁴ Ask for Asclepias asperula, Asclepias viridis or Asclepias oenotheroides by name.

At the nursery. If the flowers are red with a yellow or orange crown, it is tropical milkweed; Texas Parks and Wildlife says it is “easily recognized by the bright red and yellow/orange flowers.”³ If they are all orange, it is likely butterfly weed, which the Wildflower Center says “has no milky sap.”⁸ The three to take home have green flowers with white or purple in the middle.³ Tropical milkweed also goes by bloodflower, scarlet milkweed and Mexican milkweed, and is sometimes tagged “butterfly weed” (our note, not a source’s); the Latin name settles it.

Was it treated with any pesticide, and which one? Some nursery plants are treated with systemic insecticides, which the plant absorbs, so the leaves themselves can poison caterpillars. The Xerces Society: “It is unfortunately not possible to tell from visual inspection whether a plant contains systemic insecticides. Before buying milkweeds or other pollinator-attractive plants, we strongly recommend asking nursery or garden center staff whether the plants have been treated.”¹⁵ Monarch Joint Venture says the same: “Ask if they were treated with any pesticides, and if so, which ones.”¹⁶ A 2024 study found that insecticides used on ornamental milkweed “can cause monarch larval mortality up to 4 wk after treatment application.”¹⁷ Ask about fungicides too: a 2026 study found that fungicide on the leaves hurt caterpillars most on antelope horns.¹⁸ Xerces adds that “nurseries that grow their own stock, especially smaller local native plant nurseries, will be in a better position to provide such details.”¹⁵ If nobody can tell you, buy from a grower who can, or grow from seed, which takes longer.

Seed

Seed is the way around both problems. The Xerces Society’s advice: “use seed that is sourced as locally to your property or project site as possible,” and “only plant milkweed species that are native to your area.”¹⁹ The Native Plant Society of Texas: “Fall is the best time for planting milkweed seeds.”²⁰ Seed sown at other times wants a soak overnight and a cold, damp spell in the refrigerator first: the Wildflower Center gives 14 to 30 days for green milkweed and zizotes, and 30 days for antelope horns, which in its trial gave over 80 percent germination.⁷²¹²² Damp, not wet, in a bag with a little damp sand or a paper towel; the Xerces Society describes it as seed “stored under moist conditions in a refrigerator.”¹⁵ The refrigerator, not the freezer (our practice). Seed sown in fall comes up as seedlings the next spring and makes a plant big enough for caterpillars in a later year; for leaves next March, buy plants this fall. If you start seed indoors, use a deep pot: a 2015 article in Texas Parks and Wildlife’s Eye on Nature newsletter says to plant “in a deep container (most species have a long taproot)” and to “be patient: it may take a milkweed several years to reach reproductive maturity.”²³

Planting what you bought

Milkweeds grow a long taproot. Buy the deepest pot you can find; the Xerces Society says the deepest containers “may increase transplant survival.”¹⁵ Slide the plant out without breaking the root ball, set it at the depth it grew, and choose the spot for good; the Wildflower Center says butterfly weed “needs to be transplanted carefully,” and we treat all of them that way.⁸ Never dig milkweed from the wild or a roadside: Texas Parks and Wildlife describes antelope horns as growing “from stout rootstocks,” a snapped root usually means a dead plant (our practice), and it isn’t yours to dig.³

What this page will never do

It carries no paid placement; no nursery paid to be here. It will not say a nursery “has” a plant we did not see listed. Stock changes, and the dates above are the last day we looked.

Which milkweed to ask for: Best milkweed for Austin. When to have it in the ground: the Austin calendar.

Last changed October 5, 2026.