I have both Butterfly and Swamp Milkweed, and this is there second year in the ground and they look sad, flopped over, and only flowered a single bloom once. also these orange aphids won't leave them alone..what should I do?

Thirst?

It could very well be thirst, as many areas in Texas are really hot and dry right now. Or it could be fertilizer, milkweeds being natives, they don't need fertilizer as a rule. Also they need full sun to flower abundantly.

I have been watering them frequently, but it may be both the sun and fertilizer factor. they were crowded out for a while by other plants, and I fertilize the beds. whoops

Hey, no problem, I'm sure they will perk up! I've seen others gardens where they do the same thing, they just flop over.

Mine sometimes flop over, usually when they're too wet from really heavy rains. They really seem to like dryer ground. They're along a fence, so I just run a string about halfway up them attached to the fence on either side of them once they get tall enough, like a loose loop around them so they can't flop. I hated trying to cut the grass around them when flopped over, I didn't want to chop them up.