Hello, my first post on Gardenweb. On my property there are many wild apple trees, but a couple years ago I decided to plant an orchard of known cultivars. Then last year I got into rare and exotic fruits. One of which was the pawpaw. I planted about 30 small trees last year, and another 30 this year. Generally they are all doing well, I have only lost one tree, a Rappahannock. Fastest growers are the Pennsylvania Golden and the Overleese. One of my PAG's just passed 5 feet tall. I have found that you never want to take a Pawpaw that leafed out under low light conditions, and plant it in full sun. If the tree leafed out in full sun, then it can handle it. I water them quite a lot, which seems to make them grow faster, and resist large amounts of sunlight. Like Ken said, the taproot is very sensitive, but a good healthy taproot will make the tree much resistant to less than ideal conditions. When I dug the holes to plant the trees, I bored out a 3 foot by 4" diameter hole down the center and filled it with topsoil. This gives the taproot a big boost to grow deep. I mulch around the trees with grass clippings, and they seem to like this. Maybe next year I will get some fruit.

Molanic, yes, I have grown many plants to attract the Painted Lady, but never had any eggs/caterpillars at all. Maybe they prefer prairie habitat? I am a city gal, but I still get lots of them and American Ladies, too. I have grown the following: Hollyhocks False Nettle (still have for Red Admirals and QMs) Sunflowers Malva (High Mallow) Wormwood/Artemisia ssp. Thistle (Carduus ssp.) Lambsquarters (Chenopodium) Plantain (both lance-leaved and Dooryard) Yarrow The Dallas County Lep Society lists the following larval host plants for them, by family, genus and species. You can see I grew/grow many of the plants mentioned: ASTERACEAE: Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Pearly Everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea), Western Sagewort (Artemisia campestris), Mexican Sagebrush (Artemisia ludoviciana), Musk-Thistle (Carduus nutans), Basket-Flower (Centaurea spp.), Tall Thistle (Cirsium altissimum), Texas Thistle (Cirsium texanum), Wavy-Leaf Thistle (Cirsium undulatum), Bull Thistle (Cirsium vulgare), Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus), Milk-Thistle (Silybum marianum). BORAGINACEAE: Borage (Borago officinalis), Blueweed (Echium vulgare). CHENOPODIACEAE: Beet (Beta vulgaris), Lamb's Quarters (Chenopodium album). FABACEAE: Soy Bean (Glycine max). MALVACEAE: Hollyhock (Alcea rosea), Common Mallow (Malva neglecta), Little Mallow (Malva parviflora), Running Mallow (Malva rotundifolia), High Mallow (Malva sylvestris), Globe-Mallow (Sphaeralcea spp.). PLANTAGINACEAE: English Plantain (Plantago lanceolata), Dooryard Plantain (Plantago major). URTICACEAE: Nettle (Urtica spp.). I have found several other butterfly species on a few of these plants, like Red Admirals and QMs on False Nettle, Gorgone and Silvery Checkerspots on Sunflowers, Buckeyes on Plantain, and Sooty Duskywings on Lambsquarters. You would think that as common as the Painted Ladies are, and as larval plant generalists, we would have found them on something, huh? I would like to add Artemisia ludoviciana, Milk Thistle (Silybum), and Pearly Everlasting (I have tried this but not been successful at growing it yet). Maybe another thistle other than Silybum, altho it's potential invasiveness makes me a little nervous about growing it. Also, you'd think with the numbers of PLs I see in the garden, at least one might be a gravid female, right? But, no such luck so far....... Maybe we will get lucky this year. Susan

Right? My focus is on the American tropics only because it's less a leap away from family, friends, and the world I've known. I get what you're saying about the relatively limitless aspect of it but we do actually have a fair degree of focus at this time. We would need a "reason" to be doing all this, just the way I am, and it is specifically those high-demand, rapidly diminishing weather-resistant hardwood types we might focus on initially. There're other items too-Mitragyna speciosa is an interesting tree with a useful leaf. Watch what you come across on the web about that latter one-there's much nonsense. This is a completely legitimate plant (is there any other kind-I sure don't think so) but some fools have gone off the deep end with fear and exaggerated nonsense about it. I have much direct knowledge-don't believe the BS. And of course, if this were to come to pass, I doubt I'd be able to resist a few other smatterings of interesting/beautiful plants. We've got much, much homework to do before getting to square one. One thing we would not be doing is anything which would tend to put us in competition with big suppliers of mass commodities. You're not going to compete with, say, Indonesia, for paper pulp bolts, lol, as that nation goes about basically liquidating its forests.

You can buy the tree here: http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/brownea_grandiceps.htm I'm not sure, the flowers may not be as well formed in less tropical climates, or maybe the tree will need a lot more time to mature before you get the impressive full flower shape that resembles a rose. It's just something kind of unusual, another possibility for exotic gardens. (just to clarify again, this is only going to grow in zone 10 Southern California, not too far away from the coast)