Catherine, I'm growing the A. californica, which I got last year around this time. I only have it in a pot at the moment - due to gopher issues and the fact that I'm still not sure where I want it - and a lady over on the CA forum said hers does well in a potted situation. It's still very small, and I paid about $6 for it at a small native nursery an hour north of here. It's in morning sun with dappled sun throughout the rest of the day. It probably won't bloom for me until at least next year, as someone posted, "The first year they sleep, second year they creep, third year they leap." :) I've read that if they get too out of hand, i.e., tangled and/or huge, then they can be cut to the ground before spring growth starts. As far as I know, the pipevine swallowtail, specifically, is only attracted to Aristolochia as a larval food, but swallowtail larvae in general are attracted to many different plants. Brenda

The GFs will sometime travel quite a way away from the plant to pupate. Not always, but often. I've seen them hanging from the eaves of my neighbor's house, and others in my back yard far from where they started out. I also have something new this year. Big, white fuzzy caterpillars I'm only finding on the passis. Never seen them before, and they're not the caterpillar of a zebra longwing or flambeau, two passi-loving butterflies that are supposed to be in our range (actually, I've seen a few flambeau butterflies and cats, so I knew it wasn't them). Anyone have any ideas?

Sorry I was in a hurry due to the word limit. I tried less water, I tried more water. Less sun and more sun. I tried small amounts of fertilizer. I cut more holes in the planter to make sure it was draining properly. The snails were nipping at them but that shouldn't kill off an entire vine so I treated for bugs and for fungus. Nothing seemed wrong with them other than some holes in the leaves (from the snails) and the fact they were dying. I believe it's Miracle Grow Garden Soil in the planter. The morning glories are the only thing in there except the trellis. I figured being vines they choke anything else out. Many of my neighbors have them basically growing wild. I have no idea why mine just died when they were doing so well. Any advice for next season would be appreciated.

My experience is with 27 EB caterpillars on dill plants in a pot. I did not bring any of these cats inside as I was going to be away and had no one to feed them. I watched as all the eggs hatched and every cat grew big and fat. The dill plants were eaten down to a nub. The day before I was to leave, as I was watering, I noticed some of the cats making their way off the dill stubs and out of the pot. As I watched, they were making their way across the ground (bark mulch), I assumed to go pupate where none of the other cats could eat their chrysalis. I went about my watering. When I finished about 1.5 hours later all the cats were off the potted plant and there were 2 dead deflated cats on the mulch. The cats I had seen make it to the tall grass were no where to be found. Only one pupated cat was found on the screen of the screened porch. The next day it was gone. I think the 27 cats were perfectly camouflaged for 3 weeks while on the dill plant, and maybe even the smell from dill might deter some predators, but as soon as they crawled off the dill to go pupate they were spotted. I think every one of those 27 cats were eaten by various birds and insects in that 1.5 hours. The lone survivor was eaten the next day while incapacitated by pupation. I hate to say it but your cats probably became food for birds and insects. Anna