Mail Order Natives carries it, Susan, their plants are nearly always big, and they're always reasonably priced. Sunlight Gardens carries it for a mere $5.00.
On the passi forum, somebody said he got more than a 60% germination rate after putting the seeds in damp sand and keeping them in the fridge for a while, so if you'd like, I'll send you a fruit when I get one. They ARE hard to root, even professionals have a hard time doing it.
Sherry

Heehee - guess what I did! I went ahead and ordered one from MON together with a Ptelea trifoliata while you guys were responding. Talk about great minds/same path, etc.

So, I got two things I really wanted!

Susan

I ordered maypop seeds and finally have one growing. I had been trying to germinate them since January. I also ordered a small one. I put it in a large pot. It was in it for less than 2 months before I put it in the ground. The roots had already went through the pot into the ground. It seems to still be alive and growing. But some of my leaves look strange.

Don't know about your foliage, but I do know that P. incarnata is a very vigorous vine. They sucker like crazy.

I have P. 'Lavendar Lady' and P. ceurulea already. But, the Variegated Frits will only use P. incarnata, so I wanted it for both GFs and VFs.

Susan

Susan, Do you mean that the Variegated Frits will only use P. incarnata at your place or is that the case in general? I'd like to know because I hate to pass along incorrect info, and I think I recently told my online birding friends about various types of host plants and I think I said that "passionvines" (I didn't specify P. incarnata) are a host plant for Variegated Frits and so are violets.

You sound like you're having a lot of fun. :) I hope your plants do well that you ordered. None of my Ptelea trifoliata seeds germinated that I ordered, so if they're a difficult one to start from seed, you did well by ordering the actual tree. Between those and paw paw, I'm not having too much luck at all. I have one paw paw living yet out of six seeds that I planted. Hrrrmph!

It's been warming up here finally...I think. I've been busy working outside tearing up more lawn to plant more butterfly plants. Hee hee. I'm hoping that I can be happy with what I get done this year because I think this will be it for me. I'll already have so much to take care of and don't know if I'll be able to keep up. I really do like all of the flowers and butterflies though! I can't be sure but I think I saw my first Monarch today. I just caught the tail end of it and it flew up over the house and away and I never did get a good look at it. I hope they wait awhile to come on full force because I won't be able to bring many in just yet because I want to get my plants planted before it gets too hot, and I know if I'm tending to Monarch cats for hours a day, the planting won't get done. That's what happened to me last year and I had to take a break. Then I think about every darn one of the cats that I brought in right after that had been parasitized by those disgusting tachinid flies. Oooh, that made me mad! The ones I collected as eggs were okay though.

I hope you're seeing more butterflies at your place than you had been, but if not, I guess there's still plenty of time, right? It has me concerned reading people saying that they aren't seeing nearly as many this year as in years past for this time of the year. I hope that the only reason is the cool weather.

Cathy

P. incarnata is the only plant we have found VFs on in Oklahoma, Cathy. I know they don't use my P. 'Lavendar Lady' nor the P. ceurulea. Sandy has found cats on her P. incarnata that grows wild. It is a native plant in Oklahoma and much of the eastern U.S.

None of my Ptelea trifoliata germinated last year either. That's why I'm ordering the plant from Mail Order Natives.

I'm starting to see more butterflies now. I have had a few at the feeder, like the QMs, RAs, Tawnies, and Hackberries. The Silver-Spotted Skipper seems to love my yard and hangs around here all the time. I've had BSTs because I've found eggs, but I rarely ever see them. I've seen Cloudless Sulphur on a couple of occasions, too. I usually get more around August-September.

Susan

Cathy, I've found variegated frits on both p. incarnata and common violets. They'll use the passionvines if they're available, but later in the year when the gulf frits have covered the vines, they'll use the violets. You didn't give incorrect info.
Sherry

Oh, my bad. I didn't mean they wouldn't use violets, just that they would ONLY use P. incarnata and not the other passion vines.

They won't use my Johnny Jump-Ups, though. Just that one with the violet blue flowers you gave me, Cathy. I have yet to see any this year.

Susan