Gwynne, I also live in PA and will be planting pipevine this year. It's a vine that Pipevine Swallowtails use as their host plant. I never heard of pipevine before joining this forum last year, and I didn't see that anyone in my area sells it. It will probably be pretty hard to find in most nurseries or stores.

There are various types of pipevines. There's Aristolochia tomentosa, A. fimbriata, A. californica, A. serpentaria, A. macrophylla, and probably others that I can't think of offhand. Since I'm just new to this, I can't rattle off so many of these botanical names like others on here. ;-) The A. macrophylla is the one that I'll be planting here soon. There are probably several places on the Internet that sell pipevine; this one came from Sunlight Gardens. I'm including a link so you can see the type that I'm planting. Not all pipevines are hardy this far north, but I know that this one is.
Cathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Pipevine

Thank you for the link. What part of PA do you live in? I am near Philadelphia. I actually do not think I am a zone 7, more like a 5 or 6 but have to find out.

You're welcome! I live in what they call the Central Susquehanna Valley. Of course, that includes a wide area. More specifically, I'm about an hour north of Harrisburg and then about 10 miles west of the Susquehanna River. I'm either in 6a or 6b, not sure exactly, so I just say 6. I'm kind of right on the border, I believe. It looks like you're a 6b. Southern Philadelphia looks so close to being a 7a. Since you said you're near Philly and you do live in PA, I'm assuming that you live either north or west of the city because if you go east or south of Philly, you'd be in other states. :) I'll include a link for you so you can see. Click anywhere in the Northeast U.S. to enlarge the map for that area. Oh, and here's a link to another map too; it doesn't go into A's and B's: http://extension.missouri.edu/webster/webster/weather/HardinessZones-compressed.JPG You'll have to copy the URL and paste it in your browser address bar.

Cathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Hardiness Zones

I am about 45 miles north west of Philly and 100 miles east of Harrisburg. I will check out your charts. Thanks for supplying them.

Gwynne - welcome to the forums and we hope you like it here! I think you will, and Cathy is now an "experienced" butterflyer!

The only pipevine mentioned that I would be concerned about overwintering successfully in your area would be Aristolochia fimbriata, which is hardy to zone 7, unless they've recently found that it is hardier than that. A. baetica is also hardy, but it is not a native species like the tomentosa, serpentaria, and macrophylla. A. clematitis is also pretty hardy, I think, but it is not a native species either. However, I grow it, serpentaria, macrophylla and tomentosa, and when they get big enough, MAYBE I'll have some PVS's.

We discussed this at length in an older thread, and came to the conclusion that A. macrophylla is the best species for your zone. I believe that's what Cathy has.

More nurseries are starting to carry this vine, but there are still a lot of nurserymen (and women) who are not very familiar with it. Sunlight Gardens (are they in Tennessee or Kentucky, I don't recall) is good to order from you - they're closer than Mail Order Natives where I got mine. (MON is in Florida, I believe). Niche Gardens may have some, too. I did a search not too long ago on pipevines and a lot of nurseries are already out of stock, so if you want some and they have it at Sunshine, I'd go ahead and order as quick as you can.

Susan