Hi Andapanda, I live in Northern California, near San Jose. This plant was outside all winter and our winter temps are right on the edge of being able to kill it off (its minimum is supposed to be 28 F). We don't get too hot in the summer, usually only 80 during the day, 55 at night. I understand a lot of people grow these in the South. This is a picture of my plant on Saturday; one flower mostly closed up but another opened this morning. As far as the kiwi, 'Issai' is special in a couple respects. It is smaller than both most hardy or fuzzy kiwi (Actinidia deliciosa). The latter in particular is a real monster. It is also somewhat self-fertile, so that you don't need a male plant. So with one small plant, we can fit it into a much smaller space than two big plants. And we don't have much space. So that's the only kiwi I'm interested in. In terms of pollination for your plant, I understand the larger fuzzy kiwis are just as good as one of the smaller hardy males. The only thing is they have to bloom at the appropriate time for there to be pollen (although I imagine there's a way to save some...). I also remember reading that you'd have to wait at least a year for a rooted cutting to bloom. I've never personally rooted them, but I'm under the impression it's pretty easy. If water alone doesn't work, you might want to consider some sort of mix of perlite and/or vermiculite and/or peat. I'm sure there are all sorts of recipes on line and everyone has their favorites. I like either pure perlite, perlite + vermiculite or perlite + peat. I'm trying to trade the rooted cuttings I have right now for a couple very specific things, but the Aristolochia vines grow fast and I'll be taking more cuttings (probably quite a few) in the next few months. So if you're interested in a cutting--rooted or unrooted, depending on what I have, check back in 2 or 3 months. Actually, since I don't give my "normal" email address out here, if you think you might be interested it's probably best to drop a note now to my plant only address--I look at that pretty infrequently most of the time. It is: looking4plants@yahoo.com Then you can contact me their in the future. By the way, if you think this flower is big, there is a variety of this plant--usually it's considered its own species these days: Aristolochia gigantea var. brasiliensis or Aristolochia brasiliensis. Unfortunately I don't have that plant.

Sorry, I should have closed this offer. Judystovall59, all plants are basically zone 9 or 10, as described above. A couple need cool yet (nearly) frost-free conditions, which are only found outside near the California Coast. None are zone 7 plants.

Kayjones, Possibly what you have are the two varieties of Aristolochia gigantea that are commonly available, the typical form (8-12 inch flowers) and the 'Brasiliensis' form, which is even larger. I've only seen the 'Brasiliensis' in photos, but both are incredible plants that are well worth growing. The typical form, at least, is easy for me to propagate, as long as bottom heat is used. Not sure if this applies to both, but for a day or so A. gigantea smells exactly like Lemon Pledge. What a cool plant. I had to give mine up due to a move. I thought I saw A. grandiflora at a nursery, but I went back to look at the plant (and possibly buy it). It had the white irregular flecks/spots on the leaves, which I believe are characteristic of A. gigantea. So perhaps that plant is mislabled. It is confusing, because both Aristolochia gigantea and Aristolochia grandiflora have specific names both starting in "g", and both essentially mean "huge". From what I gather A. grandiflora is less tolerant of cold, so it might be easier to find in South Florida. Here is a link that might be useful: My old A. gigantea, in a 2 gallon pot

Hi aristolo, Perhaps I should have followed up on this. This hybrid has been since discussed on the Aristolochia forum on Facebook, as well as privately: https://www.facebook.com/groups/aristolochia For actual posts, this might work: https://www.facebook.com/groups/aristolochia/search/?query=durior%20x%20elegans The thinking and conclusions are essentially identical to yours. I'll post a new photo since my plant bloomed a couple times as well. It seems highly likely that it is some hybrid of A. gigantea and A. elegans. There already seem to be a number of such hybrids out there for sale, typically assigned to one species or another. For example, the plant sold by Suncrest (wholesale) as A. elegans has flowers that are too large for that species, white spots on the leaves, etc. (I have pictures). More interesting is the suggestion (discussed in detail on the Facebook group) that there are really two species: the huge (14 inch flowers) Aristolochia gigantea brasiliensis and the small Aristolochia elegans. The hybrids between them appear to include the plants typically referred to as A. gigantea. Therefore, if the UCBG plant is in fact A. gigantea x A. elegans (or the reverse) that could make it (A. gigantea brasiliensis x A. elegans) x A. elegans. In other words, it would be 3/4 A. elegans and 1/4 A. gigantea brasiliensis. If you are still interested in trying the UCBG plant I can give you something at some point. I have a couple rooted, but was planning on giving one or two of them to people. I also started new cuttings about a week ago. UCBG is still selling bigger plants, with the name unchanged. Here is a link that might be useful: Facebook posts (repeated from above)