Hi Dee! Yep, at it again...these little suckers are growing fast! Unfortunately, I never did get any pics of the MGs...sorry :( I've got 5 (I think) plants in the pot right now, 4 are up and they are about 6" tall, heading for the ceiling fast. I'll take your advice and get a couple of them outta there. I did like the MGs last year...blooms were sparse on the smallish variety I used (Red picotee, which turned out to be more ppl than red), and I think I didn't neglect them enough...probably will do a slightly bigger pot this year with those, and just leave 'em alone. For some reason, I tend to 'baby' my office plants, even though I KNOW MGs don't like it. Will try to keep you posted on progress!

Hi Sherry and Sandy, Thanks for your comments. I hesitated somewhat posting on this forum as I had read that A. gigantea (and I believe A. elegans) are toxic to some butterfly larvae. However, I assumed that there would be people with considerable experience growing Aristolochias on this forum. The nature of the toxicity is not clear to me, nor is it clear whether a hybrid would share that problem. Is it even known whether the "toxicity" is due to a poisonous substance or substances, or whether the plants are "poisonous" simply because they lack some molecule(s) necessary for the caterpillars' survival? Regardless, I assumed that on a forum like this there would be a number of people who started growing Aristolochias for the butterflies, but then fell in love with the genus for the plants themselves. I know that is true of many who grow Passifloras. I'm not familiar with the debates over the naming of A. durior and A. macrophylla. For some reason I had thought they were synonyms. I have a friend who used to be involved in vine propagation at UCBG and I'm hoping to get his thoughts as to whether the parent could have been A. gigantea. I'm sure there are cases where the flowers of a hybrid are larger than either parent, but (particularly in the absence of polyploidy) I would expect they are rare. An 8 inch flower (assuming the description is correct) is a pretty dramatic increase in size. The white flecks on the leaves are also highly suspicious. Again, my impression is that those are diagnostic of A. gigantea, and never found in A. durior/macrophylla or A. elegans. The white "flecks" are odd enough that many people think their A. gigantea is diseased the first time they notice them. My interest is in the ornamental aspect of the plant, as well as its adaptability. I've grown other Aristolochias--A. gigantea, trilobata/macroura, elegans, and fimbriata. I've offered both unrooted and rooted cuttings of A. gigantea for postage in the past, and at the moment I have rooted cuttings of A. trilobata/macroura that I will need to find homes for. What intrigues me about this particular hybrid is the possibility that it could resemble one of the tropical species in terms of large and dramatic flowers, yet have unusual hardiness. The hardiness is not an issue for me, but it would be for people living in most of the rest of the country. I would guess that there would be people interested in growing such a hybrid outside if it were possible in their climate. Passiflora incarnata is an example of a plant whose hybrids differ in their hardiness. Passiflora 'Incense' (P. incarnata x cincinnata) is one that is reasonably hardy for many people (typically given as zone 7, I think, sometimes even zone 6). Others are much less hardy. In that case the origin of the P. incarnata parent may be one factor, as strains from more Northern regions are not nearly as hardy as those from the Deep South. The bottom line is that for either P. incarnata hybrids or for Aristolochia durior x elegans, the hardiness of the hybrid can't be easily predicted. It needs to be tested. But yes, for those whose sole focus is attracting butterflies, the issue of toxicity is probably more important than hardiness. By the way, I think the Yahoo Aristolochia group has essentially died, with almost no posts in the last year or two.

I just had a possibly awesome idea: what if I plant snow peas like a cover crop for my plot in the late fall, and then cut them to the ground for the tasty shoots, then let them grow back (the second growth is too tough to eat as sprouts) to serve as a cover crop? In order to judge whether or not this will work I need to know 1) will they survive being cut in cool weather and 2) do they really work well at fixing nitrogen for the soil and protecting from nutrient loss? Maybe I'd better ask the folks on the soil forum about this.

I've sown fall peas starting in mid-late July every few weeks until mid-August. The later sowings sometimes don't flower & provide pods, but the pea greens are good in stir fries & salads. Just finding garden space can be tricking in mid summer, so I tuck them here & there more often than a row. Self supporting types have grown well in between my strawberry rows. Ciscoe Morris said that someone shared at one of his talks that for summer sowings of peas put in ice cube trays then plant the ice cubes out for the cooler soil. Seems that it wouldn't last long, but might be interesting. I've just watered soil well & let drain about an hour, plant peas, mulch & water the next day, too. Seems to work for me, but I don't have full sun all day either.