Which red passiflora did you have that the Gulf Frits were able to tolerate? Even with the reds there are definitely variations. :)

I to have wondered about pipevine I have a calico and was ganna rip it out but someone told me not to I have never had any cats on my pipevines I have 3 kinds but all are very small except the calico.Would love some input on this subject .I have had red passionvine and some cats live and some die but on my incense they all live so Im clueless.

The hang tag is still on the plant but can't look at it tonight. I'll try to get back to you. I can describe it.
The blossoms were more pale maroon.the tag definately says "Red". because when I read that about them last year I ran out to be absolutely certain.the leaves are fully rounded and trilobed. It has died to the ground and no sign of life yet. I bought it before I heard about it not supporting GF. but I could hardly stop the butterflies from using it they were there all day everyday.the GF preferred the lavendar lady but they finished that one off by August.
could it be that since we can sometimes be categorized here as sub tropical that our butterflies are more tolerant of tropical plants? We are on a migratory path to south america. the migratory hummingbirds take a big elbow turn through here every fall.

Angie, I saw pictures on the web somewhere of pipevine cats on a calico. I believe the posts were from
california. I do know that butterflies prefer the "cultivated" plants that are closest to the ones they use in the wild in their particular area. apparently our pipevines here are cajun. just kidding. I have a report of them using fimbriata. I just bought 2 of them from my nursery and the butterfly specialist had gone to Texas to get them. she has one she just planted this year and has 1st instar cats. I am so impatient to get so many caterpillars. I have not had the luck that so many on this forum are enjoying. I have been in this new house a little over a year and a half and have yet to see half the species of butterfly I had at my other house less than 10 miles from here.I have a virtual butterfly smorgasbord. and I am not new to gardening. I go down the road (less than a quarter mile)to a friends wild property searching for plants and cats. I came across a wandering pipevine caterpillar last year but could not locate the pipevine it must have been using. It was sick anyway- spider or wasp bites.so I know we get them here. have you seen a sign of pipevines where you are?

In Louisiana, I would think that A. tomentosa, macrophylla (durior), clematitis, serpentaria (you have to have TONS of it, though), and fimbriata would be the pipevines of choice for the PVS cats. I think clematitis is the only pipevine that is not a native plant, and I'm not sure about fimbriata. I know it is hardy to zone 7, but the others are hardy to much colder zones.

I think in California, they use A. californica. I think I read here that the tropical cultivars like calico, gigantea, etc., will host the polydamas, but not the PVS. I'm not sure about littoralus, and some of the other more tropical pipevines.

Susan

I am in Florida and have the A. elegans. From experience I can say that it is a wonderful host for the Polydamas but is definitley too toxic for the Pipevine. The mama's will lay on it and the eggs will hatch but they won't amke it safely through the instars.

I have A. tomentosa and they do fine on that one. A.frimbrata is another that can be used.

I think that the gianticia would be the same situation as the elegans, although I have not grown that one.

My suggestion would be to go ahead and let the Polys use the elegans and get one of the others for the Pipevine Swallows. You can transfer the eggs or the newborn cats from the elegans to the frimbrata or tomentosa if you get them early enough. The Polys are BIG eaters so they can certainly use the elegans, leaving the other for the Pipevines.

Thanks for the confirmation that there are vines the Polydamus can use but not the Pipevine. that was the part I could not be sure about. The pipevine I have is the gigantea- native to Brazil. also called pelican flower.I do have two healthy/blooming fimbriata should I even be so lucky as get a pipevine into my yard.
I WISH we got Polydamus here. but I think the only way they would stray this far north is with a hurricane. It certainly seems warm enough here for them. It has been a long time since our winter has dipped below 25 although we did reach 25 3 times this winter. so I'm thinking we should look into those old zone maps. my zip is listed at Z8 but I don't remember getting those low temps ever.
I have not given up on finding the local pipevines, I warned my friend I would put my boots on and go hiking in her "yard" this week. She is very generous with her 10 acres on the Amite river and is just as happy if I find something I can transplant. I'm not hurting the eco system, she lives less than 1 tenth of a mile from me. it is just that my area is developed.

You can order A. tomentosa from Mail Order Natives in Lee, Florida. They are very reasonable. I ordered 3 of them. I also have A. macrophylla (big leaf), A. serpentaria, A. clematitis as well. All are small plants, though, so it may be next year before I experience the PVS's.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: Mail Order Natives

Forest Farm is another great resource. :)

http://www.forestfarm.com

I've never planted any red-flowering passionvines myself, but according to what I've read, most of them are toxic to GFs, but not all - the information I've read doesn't specify what ones are and which ones aren't. Just about all the blue or purple flowering passionvines are safe for GFs and VFs, so I stick with those - the yellow/white flowering vines in the decaloba subgroup are fine, too, although the GFs won't lay eggs on them until they've exhausted my p. incarnatas and p. ceaeruleas.
I've read that most of the tropical pipevines are too toxic for our pipevine swallowtails/battus philenor, and Mary - who gets both types butterflies - has confirmed it, so you really need to get a non-toxic aristolochia for them. The plants that Susan named are the best. There are some small types that grow in the grass in Texas, like a. erecta, that are suitable, but I've never seen them for sale. I'd like to try growing them the same way I grow a. serpentaria, but out of grass - they'd probably grow bigger that way.
MissSherry

I just visited Florida Natives Nursery in Sarasota FL and had a discussion with Marta about whether A. gigantea was good for butterflies. Since their business revolves around butterfly plants and she was VERY knowledgable I trust her word.
They had A. gigantea for sale and she showed me both eggs and cats happily on gigantea. I don't know whether the eggs were pipevine eggs or polydamas but they had several other Aristo's there too.
I bought A. trilobata (eggs and cats on it for a jumpstart at home).
Earlier in the day I bought A. fimbriata at Crowley's (down the road from Fla Nat.'s) and worried I was buying the wrong one until I searched GW and ended up on this thread (relieved now).
Both nurseries were great but not sure if they ship. I was out of town on vacation and nursery hopped.
Thanks for the info here.
Denise

Denise, I've been to Florida Natives Nursery in Sarasota - my daughter lives in Tampa, and when I visited her a few years ago, we drove down there. The only pipevines they had when I was there was the tropical types and the only pipevine cats they had were polydamas/goldrims - I saw her release one, as a matter of fact, and saw polys for the first time.
As long as you only get polys, the tropicals are fine.
MissSherry