I am in Texas, zone 8a, my pipevines arrived middle of may. By june 7th I was scrambling to find more pipevine. They found every little tiny seedling growing. I got home with the new pipevine from a butterfly plant sale, set the flat in my driveway and went to get an iced tea before planting, when I came back outside-30 minutes- they had already found it. Unbelievable!
I recently purchased aristolochia clematatis from a mail order nursery. Turned out the 6- 1 gallon size plants were actually about 8 or 9 plants per gallon. I ended up planting 50 plus plants in my 106 degree texas weather. They are doing beautifully. I was going to prune them back but the pipevine cats left my a. frimbriata ate the clematatis back and then went back to the a. frimbriata.
This generation of cats are now close to eclosing and all the pipevines are ready again.

I've seen a PVS precisely twice in my life: July 15 and Aug. 30 of this year. But once was enough to convince me that I have to try to grow some type of pipevine next year.

I had loads of PVSs last year. I have loads of host plant this year but I have only seen 1 pipevine this year.

Super post - maybe they have a more variable life cycle!!!

Sam

I have lots of Aristolochia (three types, no less!) and PVS going through metamorphosisÂbut haven't spotted a single butterfly fluttering byÂ

I saw my first and only PVS on July 26. A lifer for me. Here in CT we are in the northern reaches of their range. The host on A. serpentaria which grows wild here but is a threatened species. There is only one place around here that it is found and is a well guarded secret amongst butterfliers. We want to keep out the collectors!

I never saw the serpentaria but did spot two PVS.

I grow Aristolochia t. and have never seen a Pipevine swallowtail. Still watching though...

This thread makes me realize how fortunate we are to have so many Pipevine Swallowtails in our butterfly sanctuary. This year I added about 20 pipevine plants to our original 20 and added 10 A. serpentaria plants. The pipevine cats ate almost all of these plants.

mike

Mike, where did you pick up the A. serpentaria plants?

I ordered a. serpentina from a mail order nursery called crimson sage nursery. A little pricey but beautiful plants.

Carol, I saw my first PVS fly across the road when we were riding around just north of here - Monroeville - where there's supposed to be limestone formations - I'll bet aristolochia serpentaria or a. tomentosa grows wild in that area!
MissSherry

I've seen a few of the PVS here this year, but no one has found my new pipevines yet :(. Glad to hear the Clematis counts for the host plant too, I've got one coming later this year.

This is amazing. I found Pipevine Swallowtail eggs for the first time today, EVER, on my Aristolochia tomentosa. I searched this forum to see if there were any comments or pictures of Pipevine eggs and I ran across this old thread from 2005. If you read the first part, I saw a Pipevine adult on September 9th, 2002, and then my next one on September 8th, 2005. And now, I have eggs on September 15th. I wonder what day they were laid. How long does it take the eggs to hatch? Under the microscope each egg has a red pointy knob on top like red candy, and on the sides are orange stripes that conform to the shape of the egg with clear sections between them. The whole egg is translucent. It looks like a glass sculpture! Well, don't they all...
Stunned in South Alabama

For two years in a row I've started some A. serpentaria from seed very kindly provided by another GardenWeb poster. The first batch are a good size and will get planted out this fall. Someone chewed them up quite a bit this year though I don't see how passing butterflies found it tucked away in its nursery corner. This year's batch will winter over in pots and get planted out in the spring.

Has pipevine always been expensive, or is the cost going up relative to more people who are butterfly gardening and their desire to see and/or raise Pipevines? I just noticed that most of them ARE pricey. Or, if you pay a smaller amount, you get a plant that's going to take at least 3 or 4 years to reach "edible" size.

I've read a lot of articles lately that have said that butterfly gardening is soon to be nearly equal to numbers of people who garden for and participate in bird watching. One of the articles, I believe, was on the Audobon website, too. That's a huge increase in butterfly gardeners, IMHO.

Susan

I'm having a lot of trouble growing A. serpenteria and I don't know if it's my soil, my potting soil, or the amount of shade. I think (guess) it's expensive because it's relatively uncommon and not a rapid-growing plant. It took me several years to get ahold of any, and some of that was through information on this forum. All of my pipevine was difficult to find and some of it was expensive, so I guess it's one of those demand and supply things.

By the way, I found the female who laid the eggs, I think. She was dying about 20' away from my A. tomentosa.

Congratulations on the PVS eggs, Carol! It takes the eggs 6 or 7 days to hatch in this still warm weather.
I get eggs ranging from yellow to orange to red to burgundy - here are some red eggs -
{{gwi:464247}}
And here are some yellow eggs that look like they're about to pop -
{{gwi:544902}}
MissSherry

Carol...I have read about people who waited for years b4 getting PV cats...and in a way, if you have new plants, you will wish you did! (hee hee).

Let's see, today is 9/15...I should see a post around 9/29 that you are frantic and running out of pipevine....(been there!) My last batch of 40 cats ate all I could produce....as all my plants are new, some still in nursery pots....they need a good winter to establish roots....as for your PV, your climate is very similiar to mine...and I grow Durior, Tomentosa, Climatedea, Contorta, and Baetica.

I have found they lioke their feet cool, and their bodies in the sun...but in the south filtered sun seems to be a preference.....I do have a good Tomentosa facing south, but it;s first 3' are shaded by a deck.

These are typically plants that grow in woods as climbers, so I suspect that good humus rich soil, but reasonably well drained is good...as for Ph, check on that, mine are doing fine, and my climate soil is very similiar to yours...of course, I augment everything...I mix a little sand with black cow, and potting soil, and some plain old good dirt (if I can find it...not the clay we have).....

As all of mine are first year plants, I kep secveral under 24 hr grow lights to produce leafage for them....it was a measured race all the way down to the last cat, which 2 weeks after all the onter ones pupated, still hasn't done so.
Good luck, congrads, and plant about 20 of these bad boys in different areas so you can experience which do best.....you will need them if you get a population started....I have worked hard...and gotten a bit lucky, and have a great friend who looks out for me....and thus I have released about 10 this year (my highest failure rate...mostly due to one episode of a hungry toad and one episode of wandering cats...and these guys DO wander.....) but with about 35 still snug as a bug in their sleeping bags, I'm hoping for a great fall, and for a few to hang out over winter)

PS the sensitive plant I got from you is doing wonderfull...it has really spread and put up beautiful little pink blossoms....

Wow! Thanks for all the really detailed good advice! I feel as if I've had my LaMaze classes and I'm now ready for these babies to hatch. It has been about 4 or maybe even 5 years since I planted the first Pipevine. I think I have 20 or 25 eggs. I have three small plants and an older established plant with just one big vine on it. If I cut all the plant material right now, it might weigh a pound, I guess. I will definitely fertilize the plants in the morning!

By the way, did you notice that I dredged this thread up from a year ago?

No I hadn't..interesting. I

OK carol....breathe....good...very good... (hee hee)

Raise PV cats in a tub, the kind you find at Lowe's/HD, about 18" wide, 8" high 12" deep. I drill 2 holes on each of the four sides of the tub, and bout 100 holes in the lid. I have about 10 of these, so I can rotate....I change at least once a day, twice of more for those PIGGY monarchs....PV cats can poo too!

I carefully harvest leaves on some stem, trying at the same time to cut in a way to encourage the plant to branch out.....tender upper leaves at first, working my way down...so as to let the new leaves get as BIG as possible, and as the cats grow, they are able to eat the older leaves. They love the tender shoots as well. They wast very little in a tub, whereas left alone on a plant, they chomp mercilessly and let whatever fall to go to waste.

You will notice that they almost always lay eggs on a tender stem, and the kitties will hatch almost simultaneously, and migrate to a tender shoot of new growth.

Good luck. Mine's growing back after the onslaught....I released 2 more PV's today....and they're hanging around...so I'm on the lookout for eggs.

As the weather's cooling a bit, my newer plants are doing a bit better.

This is the second year in a row where I have not been invaded by PVS. Don't know what the deal is, the winters have not been that harsh. Not a single PVS to be seen, and there are plenty of the host plants available they are normally attracted to.

The deer have developed an appetite for my beds of Aristolchia serpentaria (Virginia snakeroot). They chew on the tops, but they don't kill it, nuisance browsing.

I'll have planting stock available next month for A. serpentaria if anyone is interested, fully mature plants, or smaller if that is your desire. Let me know.

Rod A.

Hmmmm......I'm getting out lately and working on my property since we've had a couple of cool fronts pass through, and the temps have been nicer. Tonight it's supposed to get down to about 60 degrees - YAY!! I had huge damage done to my 5 1/2 wooded acres in last year's hurricane, Rod, and I'm still working on getting it back in shape. Reading your post reminds me that I've been wanting to plant some Va. snakeroot in the more remote parts where my dogs don't run and see if it'll naturalize. I'll e-mail you tomorrow, Rod.
MissSherry

Deja vu all over again! I have more Pipevine Swallowtail eggs on my almost entirely eaten up Aristolochia tomentosa. I bought a Pipevine with about 7 leaves on it at a Master Gardener plant sale yesterday before I found those eggs. I guess Paul's prediction was just a little premature. My first batch is almost all in the chrysalis stage now. By the way, I'm doing my Carol's Caterpillar Circus as an educational display at the event. I have about 10 species in fish tanks. I get to make people go "Wow!" by showing off my wide array of osmeteria, etc. It's safer than fireworks. I have gorgeous Palamedes cats that people think are fake, cuz they're so cute. I'm pushing using native plants to restore habitat, instead of just gardening for looks. Attracting butterflies is a great bonus for using the right natives for wherever you live.

I agree with that, Carol!
I saw the first viceroy I've seen in a while the other day, so yesterday I got some cuttings from some of the local black willows to root. I've got a wet spot that's now sunny, thanks to Katrina, so I think willow will do well there.
I just love native plants! You can't believe how many Chinese tallow tree seedlings I've pulled up since the hurricane - I'd be a millionaire if I got a nickel for each one. Have you noticed how the invasives are all from Asia? Kudzu, Japanese honeysuckle, Chinese tallow trees, Chinese privet, Japanese climbing fern, etc.?
MissSherry

I dug this up because my PVS have been emerging over the last week or so. This is the best butterfly raising experience I've had yet! The cats are so funny, the chrysalises so exotic looking and the iridescent adults are so breathtakingly gorgeous!!! I found new eggs before my first chrysalis eclosed but I didn't move them in time and the leaf and eggs got eaten. I think an insect ate the little leaf and displaced or swallowed the eggs. I don't try to capture and raise all caterpillars, of course, I just would have protected and raised these because they are my first and are so scarce around here.
Biophilia

........sigh.......here in my pipevine dream......

Paul, I bought an A. baetica last year, but it didn't come back this year. Supposed to be hardy in my zone; have no idea what happened to it.

I hope to get some one of these days when I get my pipevine going good.

Carol, you lucky girl!

Susan

Now you know why I love 'em so, Carol!
There are many clusters of pipevine swallowtail eggs on my vines on the new growth sprouts - I don't know if they'll hatch in this cool weather. There's no point in me bringing them in to a cage in the house, since I won't have enough leaves to feed them anyway. I'm hoping that they'll do like last year's GFs and have a LOOOOOOOONG drawn out life cycle, hatching slowly, eating slowly, and then pupating in the early spring. I'll see.
MissSherry

Yesterday I found about 11 Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars on my Aristolochia tomentosa, Woolly Pipevine!!!! I have had occasional PVS adults here, but last year I got my first eggs and cats ever, in September. I saw my first-of-the-year PVS adult exactly a year before that, also in early September. So, for those of you in the deep South with Woolly Pipevine, what is the usual season for these guys?

Carol, they emerge from their chrysalids about early March? maybe ?late February, and stay active until about ?October or ?November. A lot depends on the weather - if it's reasonably warm and you have woolly pipevine, you'll have PVSs around!
Congrats on the cats!
MissSherry

It's so good to "hear your voices" again! Hey, Miss Sherry! Happy Butterflying!
Carol of Butterfly Baby Food Land

I have brought in two small cluster of eggs and I found 7 little hatchlings , too. If they all make it i will have more Pipevine Swallowtails than I have ever had in the past. I am assuming these eggs are from the two Mommas I have seen or maybe from just one of them. Does anyone know just how many eggs a butterfly lays?

Congratulations Carol!!! Are your vines doing better this year? Did you amend the soil, or move them? So glad that they have found you.

It took me 3 years, and they have finally found my vines, also. I have eggs and cats everywhere!!! I am in Pipevine heaven!!! Though I worry that I will not have enough food.

Mary, I'm sure that 1 Mama can lay at least 200 eggs. If she's mated again, she can lay at least another 200. Add another female, and there you goooo.

Mary, what is you trick is keeping the newly hatched ones on the vines after they have moved to the new leaf without falling off, and dying? There are so many to keep track of.

Linda, my soil is very acid. Some of it is as low as 4.6 pH, which is great because that's what our native pitcher plants and lots of other neat plants need. We are restoring all natives to this property. I'm not doing a strict restoration, though, and Woolly Pipevine probably wouldn't have grown in this exact soil, originally. The Pipevine (Aristolochia tomentosa) merely struggled along for the first year or two until my husband happened to put a crushed concrete driveway RIGHT next to it. Within the next year it really started to thrive and has spread runners several feet in every direction. I also have a tiny Aristolochia serpenteria from Rod Angeroth (sp?) next to the Woolly Pipevine and found several caterpillars on that. If I had found them an hour later the plant would have been gone! I have these little interlocking arched wire fence sections that I have assembled into small 3-sided structures for the Woolly Pipevine to climb on. The vine hides the wire.

I should have mentioned that the crushed concrete probably helped raise the low pH to a comfortable zone for the Woolly Pipevine.

Carol,

Glad to read that you're finding so many Pipevine cats and butterflies. I have 8 A. macrophylla vines and 4 of them are swarming with Pipevine cats. I didn't count, but guess that there are more than 15 cats on 2 of the vines( they're big vines with plenty of big leaves).

mike

That's great, Carol! Manures contain a lot of calcium and my soil tests show that it raises the PH - the PH here is 5.4, but with manures it's about neutral. Aristolochia naturally grows on limestone outcrops and rich, neutral soils in the southeast, scarce as they are.
I never thought of adding concrete! Hehehehe!!
My PVS eggs are hatching, too. I don't know how many eggs any one pipevine swallowtail can lay, but I've probably got 200 on my vines now. I think that there may be two females laying eggs, since some are orange and some are dark red. They keep laying more eggs!
MissSherry

Thanks for both the info on the pH of manure and the needs of the Pipevine. I didn't know that! (Or I forgot so long ago that it's the same thing.)

Mcronin, glad to hear you have PVS, too! A. macrophylla is probably a really practical plant for those big eaters.

Rod Angeroth (Loess Roots) and I have been doing a little experiment with shipping during hot weather and I want to tell you that it has been a great success. He sent me several bare root plants that were cut back (to prevent shock) about 3 weeks ago. They leafed out beautifully. I just got another shipment with a little soil, plus more foliage, the plants looked great when I put them into the soil today. I'd suggest if you want to plant Aristolochia serpentaria (Virginia snakeroot), to get your order in to Rod. I am a native plant person and also a butterfly expert, too. I have my VA Snakeroot planted about 4 ft. away from my Aristolochia durior. I've been told that the VA Snakeroot is more attractive to Pipevine Swallowtails, but I also know that they are pigs. I released about 20 Pipevine Swallowtails this spring that had wintered over, would your believe from early summer.

Mona Miller
Herndon, VA

This is my first year to have PVS's, Mona. There is a lady here not too far from me that grows A. clematitis and has had lots of them in the past and this year, too.

I also have A. macrophylla, A. durior, and A. serpentaria that I got from Rod as well. They were planted last fall and leafed out beautifully in very early spring. They're pretty full and nice now.

However, what is strange is that the PVS layed her eggs on the A. clematitis out of all of them. I am wondering if there is something about the use of the same species by a colony of pipevine swallowtails that would cause them to seek out the pipevine on which they were raised.

It is food for thought, though.

I am so glad to hear your experiment worked so well.

Susan

Mona, that is good news, indeed. I will check back with Rod. I had no idea that he was still shipping serpentaria. I have older leaves for the larger guys, but not enough young growth for the small ones.

Susan, I'll bet that she was more familiar with the clematitis, and that they were probably the most substancial plants to sustain young ones. If, she would have stayed around, she would have been less selective, and would have planted eggs on every new growth of whatever plant that you had. That's been my observation.

Actually, what I find with butterflies and host plants is that they can change host from year to year--their preferences will change. I think they do this so that the predators don't get used to finding them on the same plant. I try to provide several hosts for the same butterfly. For example, for the Black Swallowtail, I plant both green and bronze fennel, parsley, dill, and rue. I also research their nectar preferences and try to add some of those too.

I've been told, but haven't seen this: The A. serpentaria grows in abundance in the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia. The Pipevine Swallowtails can be found crawling around the ground from cluster to cluster since I think they need several of this species to complete their cycle.

I am posting the USGS Map Search for Butterflies and Moths. Just select your state, then a butterfly species, you can see its host and nectar preferences, plus habitat. Habitat is very important.

Here is a link that might be useful: USGS Butterflies Map Search for Butterflies and Moths

I have some seeds available for Aristolchia Elegans. I also have a large Aristolochia Macrophylla, but have not yet gathered seeds this summer. I am lucky to see as many as 10-12 PVS's in the yard at any one time, and the vines are always loaded with eggs and caterpillars. I have included a picture of the largest specimen plant.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:544900}}

Carol,

I just reread this interesting thread and realized that I never responded to your original question about the first dates for seeing PVS's. It's particularly appropriate to respond to you because you suggested the method that I use to record FIRST SIGHTINGS. My first PVS was spotted on April 5, 2006 and on April 27, 2007. BTW, This year PVS's have been my most numerous species. Most days, I've had 50-100+ in Camelot. I noticed that they love to nectar on my harlequin glory bower trees. I seldom see any other species nectaring on the HGB trees, but I often see 10-20 PVS nectaring at the same time on these trees.

mike

Thanks for dredging this up again, guys!! Thanks for the specifics, Mcronin! I, too, have seen a few Pipevine Swallowtails lately. Seeing more than one a year is a big deal to me! My Woolly Pipevine plants got shaded and weren't thriving until I weeded and pruned around them last week. This is my second year of having wild breeding Pipevine Swallowtails. I hope the new growth encourages egg-laying. I had them breeding earlier this year. If they're around now, they should be laying eggs. Last year at this time the eggs were just starting to hatch. My other vine in the deep shade has never gotten even one egg that I have seen.

I saw a gorgeous Pipevine Swallowtail flying by my kitchen window this morning (perhaps the 10th one I've seen in my entire life) and went to investigate in my Woolly Pipevine patch about 150 feet away. Yep, I have about a dozen eggs, although my plant isn't very big, with about 16 small vines coming up over a 10 foot wide patch. I collected the eggs because there are so many ants there. I have to laugh at myself because I feel SO SUCCESSFUL and it isn't as if putting some plants in the ground was rocket science:-) But it sure does feel good to attract those magnificent butterflies!! I went out and fertilized around the vines with a little time release fertilizer and watered. I will try not to remain rooted to that spot, staring to see growth and butterflies...

I happened to see a PVS yesterday, and that may be my one for the year. I usually see only one or two. I've never been able to get Aristolochia seeds to germinate, and the local nurseries look at me like I said something I should apologize for when I ask if they have plants. I have been trying to decide between a dogwood and a harlequin glory bower for a spot in my yard, and Mike's description has sold me on the HGB. Carol, it's good to see you back here.
geni

Geni, what a treat to see your message! Wow, I thought you were in Mexico away from the internet. I'd love an update. I still have some of your seeds to plant. I'll be doing my fall planting any day now, while thinking of you, of course.

Hey Carol, long time, no?
We got back from Mexico about the 18th of September. We raced a hurricane from Galveston to Beaumont, Texas. Beat it too, but it caught up with us in Lafayette, La., because we were having car trouble. We limped into Gulf Shores and traded cars with my daughter, then came on home to more butterflies than I had seen the entire summer in La Tierra de las Mariposas.

That PVS I saw (earlier message) was just the first of many. I don't know what they're breeding on, but there must be some native pipevine around here somewhere. I sure don't have any.
g.

Hey, Geni!! Welcome back! So sorry to hear about the limping:-( I bet you'll write a hugely successful article (or book) about your adventures! Yes, the butterflies are amazing this November, aren't they? I missed the other message, but am tickled to hear about PVS flying around. I have had them for two years now, but not in significant numbers. But having the caterpillars two years in a row has made me feel RICH, I tell you! I have several chrysalises right now. Soon I'll be planting the seed collection you donated!

I like keeping records of the not so common butterflies that show up during the year too. I keep photographs so more or less start looking for them around the same time each year.

We get Pipevine Swallowtail all year long here. Guess we take them for granted...just like the Queens :o)

This past February/March was the first time I'd seen communal roosts. Am thinking when Spring sprang all the overwintering chrysalids emerged around the same time...so will be looking forward to this coming February/March!!!

Out at the ranch they use aristolochia erecta (Swan flower). I have aristolochia fimbriata and aristolochia elegans in my yard in the city...but the Pipevines that come to nectar in my yard haven't used either yet. Go figure!!! Oh well, PVS are abundant at the ranch...am happy for that.

~ Cat

This is a thumbnail photo of one of the communal roosts from February 2007 that links to my community webshot photos.

{{gwi:454050}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Our local NABA website also posted photos of the roosting