Give Plants a Chance: For Pipevine Swallowtails & the Climate

Group Description

Do you want to help out a beautiful butterfly’s habitat, beautify our neighborhoods, and help our climate?! Then this is the group for you!
Just like Monarchs are to milkweed, pipevine swallowtail caterpillars only live and eat off of the pipevine plant. An isolated population of pipevine swallowtails live in California, and the pipevine plant is becoming more scarce. iNaturalist shows there have been numerous sightings of the pipevine swallowtail in the California Bay Area but only some in Santa Cruz. I have propagated and distributed a few pipevine plants to neighbors and friends already. I want to propagate and distribute more pipevine plus flower seed packets in my community, as well as provide information to inspire community-wide action. Planting more plants will take rampant carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere (helping our climate), flowers will give a bigger nectar food source for swallowtails and other pollinators as well as beautify our neighborhoods, and more pipevine plants will provide a bigger habitat corridor for pipevine swallowtails in my area.

I live near a public paved pathway utilized by many in my neighborhood. I plan to provide already-sprouted pipevine plants in pots that I have propagated plus seed packets on the side of the pathway for anyone in my neighborhood to take and grow at their residence or public space. I plan to create a website with information about the pipevine swallowtail, pipevine plant care, and all the benefits of my project. I will post a QR code to access my website next to the plants and seeds. I also plan to knock on close neighbors’ doors for more direct plant and flower distribution. Join me to help out!