I got 3 roots, and 2 of them are up all over the place, but the 3rd is being a bit slow about it. Zebz, I'm surprised you're not getting any growth yet. Have you looked really closely at the ground - sometimes it's hard to see them when they first poke their little stems out of the ground cause they kind of blend in with the color of the soil. I usually kind of run my hand over the ground and if I feel something, I take a closer look. These were really hard to see, until the foliage actually opened up and I could see the green. Susan

Muy bueno & thanks to all who posted responses on this one! I'm going to harvest the seeds I see forming and take my 'leap of faith' by winter sowing them on the solstice. Far as I'm concerned they're getting their "warm" today & tomorrow when the temp is hovering around 60 degrees here in north central CT. I checked Google + the garden watchdog website before posting the question here and got some good information but nothing related to winter sowing. Once I see the results of WS these seeds, I'll add my information to the DG website for the benefit of others. morz8 - one poster on the DG website said he/she transplants the self-sown seedlings every year. I'm no expert but since this is an eastern U.S. native species, could the reason you don't see self-seeds is your location? If I thought I'd remember to do it, I'd promise to post my results. Anybody who's curious is welcome to ping me and ask when the time comes.

Your A tomentosa should get to be fairly large. People on the forum recommend feeding with composted chicken manure. I have fed close to 500 cats on one 5 year old tomentosa vine. But, that vine was HUGE! And, I'm sorry to say that vine doesn't exist anymore--the people who bought our other house ripped it out. I have my snakeroot in an area that gets dappled sunlight. The soil is rich with humus from leaf litter. It is growing like crazy. I also have mulch around it in the heat of the summer. Last year I mulched it with shredded newspaper, as I didn't have anything else, and that worked great. I bought some more roots from Rod at Loess Roots this spring. He always gives you a good deal. And his roots are really healthy. I also got free seeds from him last fall, and I have about 10 small plants in pots. I will never have enough to feed the PVs on just snakeroot, but I have my tomentosa plants (2) and one macrophyla in the same bed with the snakeroot. I can move cats from the snakeroot to the others as needed. From my experience, the aristolochias are easy to grow once you get them established. Germination and getting them established have been the tricky parts for me. Best times to plant are spring after they have begun actively growing again or fall, when they go dormant. Seeds should always be sown in the fall when they are fresh. Sandy

The seeds are slow to germinate, they generally need a period of wet/humid weather before they show themselves. The tiny seedlings/are miniatures of the large mother plants, so beware when weeding that you don't accidentally mistake them for weeds and pull them out! So, for those of you trying to germinate the seed, be patient. I've got two packets of Virginia snakeroot seed left for anyone that wants to give it a try, but I can't vouch for their viability after being in the fridge these many months. Rod A.