Two gardens have both Rose Swamp Milkweed and Orange Butterfly Milkweed. In one the Monarch caterpillars consumed all of the leaves of the Swamp Milkweed and in the other they consumed all of the Butterfly-weed. With no more leaves, will the milkweed plants come back next year? Yes we spied tiny monarch caterpillars on the small milkweed plants earlier n the year and wondered if they would travel to the larger plants as they grew. They did. Will the plants return next year? Would it help to make sure we plant both baby sized milkweed and more mature milkweed?