Dutchmans Pipe

I bought a dutchmans pipe last year. It grew pipes this year but no flowers. what am I doing wrong? does it take years before it gets flowers

Hi MarilynE, there a several types of these plants called Dutchman's Pipee, (Aristolochia) they are quite easy to grow but take a couple of years to get established, I cant really understand why you say they grew pipes but no flowers, are you sure you did'nt miss the flowers as they are as far as I know, one and the same, they are known for growing to hight and to get them to bush out more, you need to nip out the growing tips for the first couple of years to get more branching and therefore more flowers, they are really known as short lived plants so should be grown in a really sheltered area and in sun or part shade, I would also recomend you give it a liquide feed to help build it up. wish I could help you more. good luck. WeeNel.

I think WeeNel is right, the pipes are the flowers. They're a bit strange looking for flowers so I could see why there would be some confusion, but I can't think of what else the pipes you're talking about would be.

I have often thought about growing them ...because as a child I liked them but I read somewhere that they trap and kill some important butterfly or moth.....it that true?...it might only be here in ozz....may have been some special pollinater or something...I had better look it up......and yes if you had the pipes ...it was the flowers...a bit odd looking....but interesting.

The dutchman's pipe is a host plant for a type of swallowtail butterfly--maybe that's what you're thinking of? Otherwise, I think you must have it mixed up with a pitcher plant which is carnivorous and will eat insects, although I don't know that they're overly picky about what falls into them.

I have grown Pitcher plants....it was the dutchmans pipe...not carniverous just because the butterfly or moth is too big or a funny shape ....something like that....probably does not matter over where you are ....got an idea it was an ozzy oddity.Hmmm may have been the big Bogon Moth...I must suss that out.:)

Hi Chrissy, great to hear from you again, thought Ecrane and I had wandered to another plannet and lost you all, the Dutchmans pipe is deffinately a vine, it has real sim look-a-like flowers to the carniverous plants you mentioned, but these are a different spieces all together, the Dutch pipe is more or lees grown for it's novelty and dare I say beauty of flowers, whereas the carniverous plants cant grow where there aint enough low flying or crawling insects about to feed them, but they are a lot hardier than people think and will grow outdoors in UK in a sheltered area away from strong wind.

MarylinE, the pipes/flowers are called this because the shape of the flowers look like old fashioned dutch mens pipes, they have mottled colourations on them inside the throat and the lips hang over the underside/hollow part of the flowers to protect the pipe being filled with rain water.
Once the flowers finnish, the seedheads look like fat dumpy pea shaped pods, this also looks like some butterflies who wind themselves into silky balloon shaped cases to make the birds think they are plants rather than grubs, so it is a bit confuseing if you have just had the plant a short time, but the pipe shapes you are lalking about are deffinately the flowers, take a pic and send it to us if your still unsure and we will try sort this out for you so you fell happy about it more, your vine can be pinched out at the tiny growing tips at the ends of each branch/stem to help it make a more bushy climber, that way, next year you will get even more flowers/pipes. give it an autumn feed around the base, and again in spring as being a tall vine, it is rather greedy for nurishment and moisture. Good luck. Weenel.

Well hmmm........I have Aristolochia tomentosa and I've never read anywhere that it's a short lived vine. Could you please direct me to a site that would tell me this? I did extensive searching for a vine before I decided on this one and nothing that I read told me it's short lived.