That would be A. tomentosa, also known as woolly pipevine.

Sherry

Thanks for answering me, would it be to invasive in Florida? I planted the passionvine Maypop, and it's all over my yard. I have to be taking it out of the grass constantly, would A. Tomentosa be the same?

No. Maypop is well known as being invasive. I have resisted planting it for that reason.

A. Tomentosa is a great vine. It will feed both the Pipevine and the Polydamas or Goldrim. It will come up in different places nearby, but it isn't anywhere near as invasive as the Maypop.

Okay great, than I'll have to order it from Ebay, unless anyone has a better place to order it from? Thank you

I'm in Miami Fl., zone 10b. I recently got the Swan milkweed, among other more colorful names, the butterflies love it. I just got seeds from it, trying to plant more. I don't have much luck with the Giant Milkweed, when they eat it, it usually dies, doesn't always come back. The tropical milkweed I have, know it's not native, but have had no luck with any of the native seeds.

I believe I ordered my A. Tomentosa from Mail Order Natives. I think they are just outside of Jacksonville.

I found some on email I might order, Amazon has it for a lot more.

I had bought one a couple of years ago, but it turned out to be Dutchman's Pipe vine (Aristolochia Elegans). I buy a lot of my butterfly plants from that nursery, but they only labeled it as Dutchman's Pipe. I need to research and see if there's another nursery that might have it.

Which nursery?

galloway

I'm on my way there now, need more milkweed. They have the swan milkweed, giant milkweed, and the tropical milkweed. I bought a big swan milkweed with 8 seed pods on it, than I bought 2 medium ones that didn't have the seed pods. I planted 2 of them, but seedlings take a while, need the plants now. I hope the giant one is there today.

I finally got my seeds for A. Tomentosa, and it says Seeds need a cold/moist treatment of several weeks before sowing. I didn't know they needed this. I won't have time for it to grow for this season. Does anyone know how many weeks it needs?

Sorry, no idea. It does take a while for the vines to grow to decent size. I don't believe one should expect many cats the first year on newly-purchased plant. Yours will probably take longer, but if you have four or five that germinate you will have a very good start for next year.

It's a lot easier to preach patience that it is to practice it:)

Tell me about it. I won't have time to plant the seeds for this season. If it takes up to 3 months, like the native milkweeds, I would be doing it for next season anyways. The polydamas hasn't come yet, might not this year as it looks. I've been getting them for the past 3 years, mid April. The pipevine I haven't seen yet. I did see the Black Swallowtail, and got cats from it, but the toads ate most of it. I've changed my plants to the other side now, and they seem to be doing a lot better. Oh well, you can only do so much. Right now I need to get more milkweed, they're eating me out of house and home. I planted seeds, but they are taking forever. I have 3 pots for the Tropical, and 3 pots for the Swan planted, in different stages, but not big enough to put them out yet. My P. Incense is doing great, very aggressive. My mom is putting runners back on the trellis, and it looks huge. Thank God, because this year we have a lot of Zebras, more than all the other years combined. They love, love this passionvine. I had a Lady Margaret, and the Blue Crown, and they did get cats, but nothing like the P.Incense. The Gulf seems to be going to the Edulis, and they are basically ignoring my Corky.

Have you posted your zone yet Ily? Depending upon where you are the polydamas are often late to arrive, but if you have pipevine and are far enough south they will probably find you.

Thanks for the info about P. Incense. I will need to look up a picture. I no longer know what kind of passion vines I have except that the first one I planted was the corky stem (Suberosa.) I think I planted two or three other kinds over the years and now I have various vines growing up bushes and trees and other plants.

The number of cats that one gets on these vines is dependent on a number of factors. For me, a major factor is the predators. I have a lot of lizards which seem to gobble up the eggs and the small cats. Wasps, of course, are always a major pest.

I haven't seen an Eastern Black Swallowtail yet, but a few have visited my fennel. I know this by the eggs that appeared. Unfortunately the first batch completely disappeared. I think it was the anoles, but it could have been a number of other predators. I have put fennel in different places on my property to better the odds of some surviving and, in the past, have put the cats into cages to raise. I'm not that good at raising them, however.

This is a picture of the one I have, was told it was P. Incense. The Zebras love it!!!!!! I have more Zebras in my yard, than all the past years combine. I live in zone 10b, Miami Fl. It is aggressive, I have runners constantly, but some I give out, others we put back on the trellis. They're not touching my corky now. I also have the Edulis with fruit now, the Gulf seem to be going on that one. The Edulis is in part shade, the P. Incense is in full sun.

Jane that is a very good idea. I had to buy 9 more plants yesterday at Home Depo. Most of their milkweed plants, had cats on them already, in different stages. I even had a Monarch putting eggs on the plants I had on my cart. Going to take some branches to do more plants. I finally saw the Polydamas in my yard, 2 days ago. When we checked the plants, we saw eggs, and differnet stages of cats on them. So she had been there before, we just hadn't seen her. I have the Elegans Dutchman's Pipe, and I might not have enough on the 2 plants, for the amount of cats and eggs we saw. The Zebras are still everywhere in my yard.

Wow! I didn't even see the zebras until I magnified the last photo. I have never seen so many in one place. I have zebras, but not like that. Congratulations!

Told you, I have never had so many before and that was only on 1 plant. I have some staying on the vandas, and other trees. I have to have easily over 100 Zebras in my yard. They love that new passion vine. It's very aggressive, have lots of runners all the time, but it's worth it, for the number of butterflies I have now. I got my seeds for the A. Tomentosa, but I don't think I'll be able to plant it for this season. I might have to bit the bullet, and look for a native nursery that has one grown. I don't think I have enough of the Elegans, for the number of cats on it.

My seeds are going to be 1 month exactly in the refrigerator tomorrow, I will try planting the A. Tomentosa. I've read on some sites, that the A. Tomentosa doesn't get the Polydamas. Please let me know if you have the A. Tomentosa, if you get both caterpillars on it, Polydamas and the Pipevine? I also read on most sites, that the A. Trilobata is good for both of them. Does anyone have it planted, and can tell me if that is true? The 2 Dutchman's Pipe Elegans that I have, have been completely eaten by the Polydamas. I have been looking for another pipevine for over a week now. The only ones I found, was the A. Gigantea and the A. Reagan, which I refuse to plant either one. I see the butterfly in my yard looking and looking, and it's getting me anxious. I've looked on line and nothing either. If I'm going to spend the money to buy a plant, has to be one that's good for both. Tomorrow I'm heading to Homestead, to see if I find anything. I'm going to buy 2 plants that I've been looking for, Dombeya Burgessiae (Seminole) & Sky Blue Cluster Vine (Jacquemontia Pentantha), both are gorgeous.

I have a bunch of A. Tomentosa and both the Polydamas and the Pipevine use it, but on my property the Pipevines use it more. The other pipevine I have that both use is the A. Fimbriata. They really love this pipevine, but it doesn't get a big as the Tomentosa and it doesn't seem to climb very well.

I may be wrong but it seems to me that the Polydamas will use most Aristolochia vines--and so will the Pipevines, but there are some that kill the caterpillars of the Pipevines, including the A. Gigantea.

I have tried the A. Serpentaria, and both butterflies like them, but they don't get very big and I have not found them to be useful in my garden.

Thank you for letting me know. I've been checking on the internet, and I've found different sites contracting each other, some saying good, others saying bad. I've been crazy with that. I would like to plant one that both can use, because I have Polydamas here already, without a host plant, the eat the 2 that I had. Next year I'm going to put miracle gro on it, every other week. Do you grow other vines besides the Dutchman's pipe and Passion vines? I have a little vine, that I might get seeds on it. I'll let you know just in case. That other one that I'm going to get today, Sky Blue Cluster Vine (Jacquemontia Pentantha), is so beautiful. I saw it in the internet, and been calling different native nurseries. Here is the link on it, http://www.regionalconservation.org/beta/nfyn/plantdetail.asp?tx=Jacqpent. Thanks again for letting me know, today I plant them. Might not be enough for the Polydamas this year, but I'll be ready for next year.

I have thee or four different passion vines, Ily. This year the Fritillaries seem to be all over the place. I have quite a few Zebras, but not as many.

I also have some coral honeysuckle that the hummingbirds love. Unfortunately, some of these have died out or been overtaken by other vines, principally one that has fragrant white blooms, perhaps some kind of jasmine.

I also have some Bleeding Hearts that grow up some of my Crepe Myrtles. The hummers love them.

I have Cape Honeysuckle also. It blooms here in the late winter and early spring months. Again, it is one that hummingbirds like. I have then growing up two Crepe Myrtle--one is almost completely covered by the vine, the other is getting there.

The worst vine that I have is the Mexican Flame vine. It is invasive here. I have been pulling it up in different places in my yard for about ten years. It is an ongoing battle.

I have a Flame vine that grows on the very top of a row of Crepe Myrtles. It was huge at one time, but seems to be dying off a bit now.

I probably have some more that I can't remember at the moment. Needless to say, I have a large yard. I have a two story house that sits on about two-thirds to three-quarters of an acre. I still have some lawn, but each year it gets smaller.

You do have a lot of vines. I have 3 passionvines, Corky all over, Edulis, and the Incense. I have 2 dutchman pipe both Elegans. I do have the bleeding hearts, both the white and the reddish one, but they don't seem to be doing too much here. I recently planted the Mexican Flame vine, but I have it in a container in my terrace. I heard it was very aggressive, so I decided not to put it in the grown. I have 2 Durantas, and 4 fire bushes, 2 native and 2 non native ones. I also have a lot of fruit trees, mangos, avocados, among others. We really can't plant anymore trees. I recently got seeds for a milkweed vine, but I'm keeping that one in a container, heard it was aggressive too. The one I was telling you about, is the Florida Hammock Milkpea Galactia Striata. That one just gave me seeds. My yard is not as big as yours, I have almost a quarter of an acre. I bought the 2 I was going to buy today, can't wait for them to flower. My mangos have started to fall, Carrie only for now, Valencia next.

Ily, the Mexican Flame vine spreads by seeds that it throws out after blooming; keeping it in a pot won't stop it from becoming invasive. My advice? Get rid of it.

I can't tell you how much grief that plant has caused me. I keep finding it in different places and having to pull it up. It grows fast and large. It was on top of thirty or forty foot trees, before I noticed it. The bloom is nice and the butterflies like it, but...

Is is worse than that passionvine Incense? I will have to rethink this one than. The seedlings are very small. I still have a chance to take them out.