Question
QUESTION: I got a beautiful blooming vine for mothers day, planted it in the proper location, blooms opened and did what they were supposed to, every thing was fine....now some small catapillar brownish looking things are eating it up! I have sprayed several times with safer 3 in 1 spray, as i had used that on my mandevilla vine when the same looking pests were on it a few months back, but it is not stopping them.  what to do?

ANSWER: Dutchman's Pipe vines are lovely shade-tolerant plants that are native to the Eastern and Midwest U.S., and their luscious, heart-shaped leaves are the perfect buffet for caterpillars.  In fact, many people grow this vine JUST to attract the gorgeous pipevine swallowtail butterfly! (Google an image of this spectacular Lepidoptera; you might think twice about wanting to eradicate the larvae ...) Seriously, though, if the crawlies that you've seen are actually caterpillars (which I suspect they are), the best way to control them is to spray the leaves (both sides, please) with Bacillus thuringiensis, or "Bt," which is a biological control spray available at most garden nurseries.  Bt is totally organic.  Other possible bio-controls are orange-based sprays and Neem-based sprays (Neem is derived from a plant native to India) and these work well on caterpillars.  I have also ready that some people release native wasps (tiny trichogramma wasps), but to me this sounds like a lot of hassle and something to be tried only as a last resort.

Here are some fun facts about your Dutchman's Pipe: these vines are actually poisonous to most animals -- except for the caterpillars.  The caterpillars ingest the toxins when they feed on the leaves, and this makes the caterpillars eventually become poisonous to most of THEIR predators.

I hope you can preserve your vine, particularly since you received if for Mother's Day!  Good luck and let me know how it all turns out.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I used a neem based spray and it seems to be working. The vine has a lot of new growth that is'nt being eaten up. Thank you so  much for your help. I would like to put a Bleeding Heart next to the dutchmens pipe, are they attractive to the same pests?

Answer
Glad to hear that the Neem spray seems to be helping!  Now - for the real question: are you planning on planting the Bleeding Heart VINE or the regular bleeding heart mounding perennial?  If it's the Bleeding Heart vine (Clerodendrum thomsoniae#, which is native to West Africa#, the plant would make an excellent neighbor to your Dutchman's Pipe, but because it is tropical it might not be hardy in the winter. Like DP, the BH vine can tolerate a fair amount of sun.  Bleeding Heart mounding perennials, on the other hand, tend to like more shade than sun, so if your DP vine is in a sunnier spot, the Bleeding Heart may not thrive next to it.  Bleeding Hearts #Dicentra) generally tolerate no more than 2-3 hours of direct sun per day.  As for pests, BH are not prone to pests, in my experience.  They are prone to certain diseases, however, such as powdery mildew or verticilium wilt - two problems that are associated with excessive rain and high humidity and not enough air circulation #which dries out the mildew). Good luck; keep me posted, and thanks for following up with me.