I'm not sure how many leaves it takes to feed a PV caterpillar, but quite a few it seems. It takes an 18 inch plant to feed one Monarch caterpillar, so it may take 18 inches of vine to feed one PV. All I know is they have big appetites. I have had a huge pipevine literally eaten to the ground before. That's the summer I had approximately 500 caterpillars. That vine was covering a fence and was over 12 feet long and 6 feet high. The vine was at least 3 feet thick and solid with leaves. Those 500 cats weren't all at once, but over the period of a summer. The vine would grow back some, but eventually it couldn't keep up. This is probably a 500 caterpillar summer. However, I have two huge vines, about 30-50 clematitis plants, and 30+ serpentaria plants. And I have sprouts coming up around both vines. One of the big vines is looking chewed up. The other is still in fair condition. The serpentaria is stripped and the clematitis is mostly stripped. Clematitis is a good supplemental pipevine. It grows to about 24 inches tall and spreads underground to form a nice colony. However, it isn't a native (from Hungary), and is hard to find. You can get seeds, but they are challenging to propagate, taking 2 periods of stratification, making me think it normally takes 2 years to come up. I get lots and lots of seeds as the plants flower twice a year, and I have grown new plants from seeds. When I have some more seed, I will let everyone know.

It could very well be. It's early in your zone. It could be light green because it's early or because it's not Francee. If it turns dark green later in the season, it could be Francee. It will be easier to tell then. If I remember correctly, Francee blooms in July in my area. A photo of the flower helps, too. Look at the bottom photo of Francee at the Hosta Library. It should turn the color of the upper ones later in the season, if I remember correctly. (Mine's older than that one.) http://www.hostalibrary.org/f/f.html bkay

We did get away for one night last weekend, up to San Francisco, about 2 hours away, so we did manage to escape briefly. And I got word that my puppy, not even a year old, had a major win at the dog show today, and a reserve win yesterday. It's a big deal. Wish I could have been there, but I am fortunate to have lots of friends who have reported back to me about the pup's win and how she looked, too. Thanks for your concern. I really see Mother slipping in her overall condition, and she knows it, too. She's so frail, it's scary. I'll know more tomorrow.

Agree with mr.havac, most valves have multiple usage. A valve that has WOG on it can be used with water, oil or gas. I don't know where you can use a sweat valve on gas??. Most gas valves are flared or threaded. Don't fret it, as long as the valve is not leaking, leave it alone. Lots of luck ............................................. "If all else fails, read the directions"