"Mouse ear" pipevine, Aristolochia watsonii
Hi everyone, I noticed one of my "mouse ear" pipevines, our native Aristolochia wasting in bloom this morning so I thought I'd share a couple of pics. They're fun, heat-loving low-growing vines that make these cool small mouse ear flowers in spring/summer/autumn, AND the plant is host for the pipevine swallowtail caterpillar. I've got them in sun and afternoon shade and really love them. Here are a couple of pics from this morning. If you're growing it too, let us hear alllllll about it. Happy gardening!
With Wilson the tennis ball to show size.
Comments (7)
User
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Host Plant for Pipevine Swallowtail Butterfly
Comments (4)Thanks for your reviewing of that FAQ topic. Note that the first paragraph of the topic mentions it is a hostplant list by members who had success rearing the caterpillar or personally observing the caterpillar eating the plant (this could happen away from their own garden). As such, it is an anecdotal list and does not include hostplants based on guidebooks, websites, or other publications. If you have had personal experience with that cat/plant combination, I would be glad to put it in the FAQ. When visiting the above-linked website, it was not apparent that is was about your individual observations. There were some first person references ("I") in the vegatable blog. It is a very nice website; I did glance at the advice for blackberries and feijoas and it is very accurate....See Moreflowers on Dutchman's pipe
Comments (8)It turns out that the vine I have is actually the Brazilian Dutchman's Pipe. The flowers are huge, maybe 5 times bigger than the California vine's. When I posted the first time what I was looking at was the bud, not the flower. They are a deep red and extremely strange looking. At first I was disappointed because I'm trying to plant more and more natives, but these flowers are interesting and so I decided to keep the vine after all....See MoreAristolochia watsonii
Comments (5)Legumefinder, Sorry, I was out of town for a while. I'll respond to your email a little later this afternoon... Mboston, I wouldn't worry too much about the pollinators; you probably have them or not already. I doubt that having a few of these Aristolochias around would draw in hoards of the blood-suckers. These are fairly small plants, however. I can't imagine that they could support more than a few caterpillars each. If you're still interested, please drop me an email... Thanks, Mike...See Moresecret santa swap 2012 wish lists only
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9 years ago
MaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
9 years agoNever seen the mouse ear plant before Grant, that's very cool. And Jon you have some great specimen's yourself. Thanks for sharing.
I love this plant too and have an out of control vine of it, I think it's gigantea. English name is Dutchman's Pipe Vine. It's eating one of my sheds. Here's a pic of the blooms.
Immature bloom - front, that 'seam' opens to the above flower:
The sac at the end of the bright yellow 'tunnel':
The vine before it *really* took over. There's an emu bush under it and in the background is a hedge of thevetia bushes.
joncongaroo
9 years agoMaryMcP Zone 8b - Phx AZ
9 years agogrant_in_arizona
9 years ago
joncongaroo