Propagating Times

Three pollinator host plants and their corresponding butterflies:

1. No surprise here, milkweeds for the Monarch butterfly! Here in Arizona we have 30 different species of native milkweeds. This does not include the most commonly found retail milkweed Asclepias currsavica or Blood flower which is not native. Recent studies have shown problems surrounding this species when it is being used in non- native places. The monarchs like it, but it carries a parasite and is actually contributing to the decline of monarchs. If you would like to learn more please follow this interesting link, http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/01/plan-save-monarch-butterflies-backfires For now, sticking to native varieties is best, and if you do have currsavica, just cut it back in winter if it does not freeze and trim it regularly to keep healthy, fresh, new growth. Some native species include, but are not limited to, tuberosa, angustifolia, linearis, subulata and hopefully soon to come into Tohono Chul's propagation Asclepias albicans. (I have my excited eye on a particular Asclepias albicans being used in a landscape that is about ready to go to seed :)

2. Pipevines or Aristolochias are the host plant for the Pipevine swallowtail. We have only one native species of pipevine here in Arizona Aristolochia watsonii, but another species that grows well is Aristolochia fimbriata. The fimbriata seems to be a winner in attracting the Pipevine swallowtail, and the plant is more showy than our native watsonii. Fimbriata also does well in our climate here in Tucson if given a little shade and extra water. Having both species is a no-brainer when the goal is attracting this beauty of a butterfly. Not all pipevines are created equal, and some are just too toxic for the larvae to eat. In the park we have the Catcher's mitt pipevine that has huge showy flowers. It's quite a marvelous plant but the butterflies will not lay their eggs on it because the foliage is just too toxic, and they know it.

3. Passion flowers are the host plant for the Gulf fritillary, and a lot of the time the gulf fritillary is a terrible guest sometimes killing it's host. So, be prepared as this might happen to your passion vine. It is quite a shame because the passion vine is super attractive, drought tolerant, and gets lovely displays of alien like flowers all over it. Here in Arizona we have three native species, Passiflora arizonica, bryonioides, and mexicana. Passiflora arizonica is suspect to being carnivorous, because the bracts around the flowers secrete a sticky fluid that traps insects, and carries a digestive enzymes that allows them to digest the bugs that get stuck.

To Name a few:

Mortonia scabrella

Passiflora arizonica

Tithonia fruticosa

Coming up:

Passiflora bryonioides

Senna leptocarpa

Mirabilis multiformis

Hooray! Inventory is over! Let's hope I can stay better organized so next year it doesn't quite seem like a disaster. One thing we can all make sure we do a better job of is removing labels that are no longer valid. So, if you are planting a plant and come across old labels on pots, please remove them and throw them away. Sometimes we get back donated pots that have labels still on them from when they where bought, and if we are not careful it can be confusing. We end up putting them into the dead inventory book which throws off our inventory because it was never really a dead plant.

If you are reading this and are thinking "dead inventory book???", let me explain. We keep two folders in the prop house: one for our Tohono Chul plants that have died, and the other for the plants that we have bought in. Every time there is a dead plant the sticker label gets removed and placed in its proper folder to be removed from the active inventory.

Tohono Chul nursery is committed to the continual investigation of our native Sonoran Desert and low- water desert adapted flora in an effort to provide the rarest, toughest, and most unique plants to the public.

Npaschal@tohonochul.org