That's neat! It gives me hope that I can probably transplant one of mine from a too shady area and it might still survive.
Good luck getting PV butterflies!

Congratulations, Susan!
It's happened in my garden, also outside my garden as a result of the hurricane. There was a white buckeye bush and an anise bush planted near my house that were destroyed by big trees on them. I thought that was the end of them, but the white buckeye started reappearing several years ago, and the anise/Illicium floridanum started coming back last year or maybe year before - the white buckeye is as big now as it was before the hurricane.
Roots can linger under the soil and surprise you one day!
Sherry

Here you are! I thought I would find you here. I was getting concerned that I had not seen you on the Okla. forum in a while.
My tropical Asclepias are beginning to grow rather rapidly, now that our temps. are becoming more normal. What a Spring! I thought the weather would NEVER settle down. It seems that the Springs I have remembered all my life have moved an entire month forward.
Along with the Asclepias, I have also planted 4 O'Clock seeds and Brugmansia seeds, among others. Don't know if they attract butterflies, or not. Wonder how long before these seeds will become blooming plants?

Jeanie

Your 4 o'clocks should bloom this year. Brugmansia I'm not sure of. I imagine it takes a year or two, but don't hold me to that.

Brugs are in the Solanaceae family, same as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, etc., so you may get hornworms on them. Of course, over here, we LOVE hornworms.

4 o'clocks are one of the larval hosts for the White-lined Sphinx moth caterpillars. I have never found any on mine, but keep hoping. At least they are nectar for the night-flying moths. I have the Broken Colors variety, that are yellow/magenta colors.

If you get a chance, plant some of the white Daturas. The moths just LOVE them; they bloom at night - huge, white trumpet shaped blooms that point upward. If you need seed this fall, let me know because I get tons of them. I cut the seedpods off during the summer to keep them blooming, but let a few ripen in fall.

Yeah, I'm fed up with the Okla. Gardening forum.

Susan

Actually, I got off the Okla. Forum for a while, as it seemed it was more of a "social affair" between the same group of people just chatting back and forth, and not a whole lot of helpful info to posted questions and, quite frankly, I got sick of the subject of "tomatoes". I love tomatoes as much as anyone else, but, "holy nightshade", it is NOT a religion! There are a few who try to be genuinely helpful (including you), and I have really appreciated the help!
Thanks for the warning about hornworms on Brugs. First I had heard that. You asked me to watch my Callirhoe for worms, and so far, the only thing that has chowed down on it is a busy deer, who got into it because it was growing near my daylilies and roses. For the first time, I have a deer problem.
I am anxious for my butterfly and humming bird plants (Asclepias, Lantana, Lavender, Echinacea, Liatris, etc.) to start blooming prolifically, so I can watch them darting about the flower beds. Hope the 4O'Clocks DO bloom this Summer. They seem to be slow growers, or maybe they, too, have been waiting for warmer temps.

Jeanie

Once the weather is consistently hot, the 4 o'clocks, Tropical Milkweed, Cosmos, Zinnias, Tithonias, and other heat lovers will really begin to grow. My Tithonias are pathetically slow this year, probably because of the temp ups and downs we've had.

I bought some new Lavenders this year - a new Lavender 'Provence' because the old one died, and a Spanish Lavender with pink flowers. The Echinaceas and Liatris are starting to bloom now. Two big attractants that are new this year include Gaillardia 'Oranges and Lemons' and Coreopsis 'Jethro Tull'. I had a big Red Admiral female nectaring on the 'Oranges and Lemons' yesterday evening. I watched her for an hour! Just would not give it up! I finally came inside because it was soooo hot outside.

I haven't seen very many butterflies this year so far. Hope it picks up this summer.

Susan

Susan, I was out weeding in my garden this evening and found some Virginia snakeroot about 1' tall that I had completely forgotten about. It's growing practically in the middle of some salvia that I planted there this past spring, so I don't know how it managed to come back - maybe the root 'snaked' around underground and chose that spot.
'Can't remember when I planted the snakeroot.
Sherry

Heeheeheeheehee! Stuff happens, doesn't it? Anyway, woohoo on your A. serpentaria!

Susan

Susan,

I'm thinking some plants take a while to really develop roots and then pop up. Pipevine is one of these plants. I have A tomentosa popping up everywhere this year--just like Passionvine does. I'm going to have to figure out how to contain it. I'm glad your tomentosa decided to make an appearance. You may see more of it coming up in new places!

Sandy

I've really enjoyed this thread; thanks for all the good information.

Sandy, I was going to post a question regarding encouraging the pipevines to grow but you've pretty much answered it for me. This is the second year for my vines and the one I've been feeding from is now about half gone (the leaves). The few baby cats I left on the vine ate the growing vine tips. I wouldn't clip them but they sure did! :-)

I guess I'll have to be patient and wait for the vines to develope a good root system as I don't see much in the way of new growth starting up. Should I feed them with something to help kickstart new growth?

I also saw what I think is a female Pipevine feeding on the Homestead Verbena yesterday so I imagine there may soon be more Pipevine Swallowtail eggs out there.

Mary

Mary,

Sherry has mentioned using composted chicken manure. We mulched the plants heavily last year with free composted shredded trees from our city. This year, I have plants popping up everywhere. I think this is the 4th or 5th season for the pipevine.

You can order seeds from Easy Wildflowers for the tomentosa. It's very easy to grow from seed. You do have to stratify over the winter--or winter sow. I have plants that are 5 inches tall from seeds I planted earlier this spring. I had hoped to get some seed pods on my plants, but the hand pollination did not take.

Sandy

I had a baby pipevine (I think I planted it last year) get run over by the lawnmower this spring. I was pretty sad, I was sure it was done for. It popped back up after a few weeks and has more vines and is growing quite well. I think it must have thought it better start putting on a show or it was done for :)

I have another one that is maybe two years in the ground. It's slowly climbing its way up the fence.

I have passionvine popping up ALL over. I hope I see some gulf frits soon. There were none last year and so far, none this year. I have a feast ready :)

Lisa