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  • Re: Butterfly Season Looking Great!
      • (Login PucPuggy)
      Butterfly Moderator 2005
      Posted Apr 10, 2012 10:50 PM

      Mine are Aristolochia tomentosa, Becky. I've had them for a pretty long time, probably 8 - 10 years, and I've gotten cats every year. They're in raised beds, which helps, since the ones I've planted directly in the ground don't do well, don't grow much. I put chicken manure around them a couple of times a year, and in spring I sprinkle lime around them and prune them to about the top of the fence they grow on, which is 6' tall.

      Here is a picture of some eggs -

      [linked image]

      And here are some early instar caterpillars -

      [linked image]

      Here is a late instar caterpillar with his osmeterium stuck out -

      [linked image]

      And here is a picture I like that I took of a male on coral porterweed -

      [linked image]


      They bloom profusely every spring, but I've never gotten a single seed pod. I've opened them up, and there are lots of gnats inside the flowers, so I don't know why they're not getting pollinated.
      If you don't live where pipevine swallowtails occur, you won't get them. Where are you located, in general?

      Sherry in Southeast Mississippi
      [linked image]
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