Florida native plants for your yard 

Hillsborough County has a very active Florida Native Plant Society chapter called Suncoast I believe. You might want to consider attending meetings or events for more information and education. 👍

I'd also like to offer a set of hands, I can help in a garden all day in exchange for knowledge & cuttings hehe. In all seriousness, if either of you have any form of classes or meetups, please do point me to them! We are 5 years into growing out essentially shell rock & now I am in intensive learning mode to fill in the rest & as much as possible. Thank you again for sharing!

But the problem with Tropical Milkweed, is that it doesn't have the normal winter die back, like our native milkweed. So it doesn't reset with the rest of them and continues to keep around the parasite through the winter into the next migration period. Although you can cut it back to the ground creating an artifical die back and getting the same effect.

Yep. The problem with Tropical Milkweed is that it doesn't die back down in winter where most native Milkweeds do. That die back is what helps prevent the spread of OE. There's also the chance of it escaping into the wild and hybridizing with native Milkweeds, which is why it's best to avoid planting Tropical Milkweed outside its native range.