Pipevine

Pipevine, so named because its blooms resemble the shape of a Meerschaum  pipe, was commonly grown before the days of air conditioning.  Its beautiful heart-shaped leaves (like those of a morning glory) densely covered arbors, under which ladies in long skirts sipped lemonade in welcome shade on stifling hot summer days.

I grow it because it is one of only two caterpillar foodplants in Illinois for the lovely pipevine swallowtail.  The native pipevine is Aristolochia tomentosa, or woolly pipevine.  The other larval foodplant is snakeroot, A. serpenteria.  I have grown both species, though more successful with the former.  I see the latter species more commonly in southern Illinois, and the former species scattered throughout the state, usually in dry shady areas.  However, pipevine will do just fine in full sun also.  It's a twiner and will twine around a chain link fence or anything else similar.  If left to its own devices, it can climb to the top of a large tree.

I had one plant that covered the crown of a mature crab apple, smothering it in time.  I was torn between leaving the vine in place to provide caterpillar and bird nesting habitat or cutting it to save the tree.  However, the tree had lived a long productive life. When the ice storm several years ago weighted down the tree, most of the branches broke and I had no choice but to cut the tree down.  Pipevine suckers up to 20' from the parent plant.  Suckers are easily controlled via mowing.  If you wait to mow, the new suckers will grow several inches, providing tender young leaves on which the female butterflies prefer to lay their orange eggs.  Every time I would mow, I would check the suckers and rescue eggs and caterpillars.  Now my husband does the mowing (YEEHAH!!), so I have to remember to check.

Pipevine is not that easy to find, nor is it commonly grown these days.  Those who are into native plants (i.e., IL Native Plant Society, http://www.ill-inps.org/) grow it.  If you grow pipevine, eventually the pipevine swallowtail butterfly may show up.  "Plant it and they will come."  I've done that with all 6 of our native swallowtail butterfly species:  planted their caterpillar foodplants and eventually I would see either caterpillars or butterflies of those species.

Here's another useful link about pipevine with a marvelous photo of a plant covering an arbor:
http://www.nababutterfly.com/pipevine.html

One thing I've wanted to do for decades is plant pipevine "nearby."  Hmm, it wasn't too hard with persimmons.....

P.S.  "Now for something completely different:"  I just saw a sulphur butterfly flying by on this late November day.  It's 57 degrees out!

Planting Persimmons

Yesterday I did something I've wanted to do for decades:  plant persimmon seeds.

For those of you who don't know, properly ripened native persimmons taste like brown sugar.  They can be made into the most delicious quick bread - served warm with butter - mmmm!  Incorporate some homegrown hazelnuts or native Illinois pecans and even better!  Or make persimmon chiffon pie with hickory nuts and you have a real delicacy.  Persimmons are worth the work involved.

But most people think of persimmons as those awful puckery fall fruits because of someone teasing them with a firm unripe fruit, or because of their ignorance.  A ripe persimmon is so soft and squishy it is about one click this side of fermented.

My grandmother made persimmon pudding as one of her annual Thanksgiving desserts after serving us fried quail shot by Grandad and the other men in the family.  Wow!  Nowadays wild quail are very rare.  Little did we realize what a treat we'd taken for granted.  My mother took on the persimmon tradition and I have followed.  I've been pulping persimmons and cooking with them for 30 years now.  I planted a few persimmon seeds in our yard around 8 years ago and one tree bore its first persimmon this year.

See the following link for more info:  http://www.dnr.illinois.gov/OI/Documents/Oct06Persimmons.pdf

But I digress.

Yesterday I planted seeds of the very best early pre-frost (rare and much sweeter than the normal post-frost-ripening) persimmons I've had.  I placed them "nearby" and hope if we are still around eight or so years from now to see some of the surviving trees bearing fruit.  It was so much fun choosing planting sites. The trees need full sun.  The seeds were placed near woods' edges so that their branches would overhang mowed areas, making fruit collection easy.  I chose open areas or areas that would soon be open, such as areas with dead trees, etc.  Persimmons are choice wildlife food and are especial favorites of deer, opposums, and raccoons.  I planted around 20 or 30 seeds, finishing at dusk.  I walked home viewing one of God's gorgeous sunsets.  Life is good.