Put a pipevine in the ground
We rescued these vines off the UC Berkeley campus before the excavators reached them, and they are free. Take one home, point us at a spot our crew should plant this winter, or tell us about a vine you already grow. California pipevine is the only plant the pipevine swallowtail can breed on, so all three come to the same thing in the end: somewhere the butterfly can exist.
The plants are ready now. The ground is not. Pipevine only transplants reliably in the cool, wet dormant season, roughly November through February, so the rains decide when yours goes in the ground, not when you can have it. Reserve one below and collect it at our weekly potting evenings, 5:30 to 7:30pm, at 3062 California St, Oakland. Take it early and it simply lives in its pot until the rains arrive: somewhere shaded, watered when the soil dries. If you would rather not mind a pot for a season, wait, and we will email you when rain is in the forecast.
Where the pipevine is going
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Click the map to drop a pin on your spot (optional).
See these as a list
The same places as the map above, as text.
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The plant is free. A $25 donation is recommended, not required.
That is roughly what a plant costs us: the container, the potting soil, and a season of watering and care. Every dollar goes back into rescuing and growing more, which is what keeps this free for the people who need it to be. It has no bearing on your request, so take a plant whether or not you give.
Can't right now? Take a plant anyway. No one is checking, and we'd rather the vine be in the ground than in our nursery.
One thing worth saying plainly: because you are receiving a plant, a gift here is not fully tax-deductible the way a gift on /supportis. Only the amount above the plant's value would be. Giving on /support instead, without taking a plant, keeps it fully deductible.
What happens next
- If you reserved a plant: come and get it at our weekly potting evenings, 5:30 to 7:30pm, at 3062 California St, Oakland. It is a working evening rather than a handover, so stay and pot a few if you have the time. If you would rather collect it closer to planting, wait: we watch the forecast and email everyone when the first real rain is coming. Either way the planting window is November through February, and a plant collected before then keeps perfectly well in its pot, shaded and watered.
- If you named a spot: it goes on the map above, usually right away. We review new sites weekly, work out exactly where they are, and email you to ask who owns the land and whether we can plant there. Come November, we plant, with volunteers and ideally with you.
- If you already grow pipevine: we will write back about cuttings, caterpillars, and classroom visits. Knowing the vine exists is already useful to us, and none of the rest is an obligation.
What you'll be collecting. California pipevine is deciduous, so if you collect yours in autumn it will most likely look like bare stems in a pot. That is a healthy dormant plant, not a dead one. It leafs out and opens its strange, pipe-shaped flowers in late winter. How to grow it, and what to expect →
What makes a good site
Don't worry about getting this exactly right. Tell us anyway and we'll take a look.
- Dappled shade or part shade. Pipevine scorches in full afternoon sun.
- Near water: a creek, seep, or damp low ground. Riparian corridors are its home ground.
- Something to climb: a fence, shrub, or low tree.
- Safe from maintenance, out of reach of mowers, string trimmers, and herbicide crews.
- Not slated for construction or regrading.
- Reachable on foot by a small volunteer crew.
Why we're asking
When construction along Strawberry Creek tore out California pipevine (Aristolochia californica), the vines were heaped up and left in the sun. We took cuttings from what we could reach. Those survivors spent the season rooting and are now growing in one-gallon containers. We are giving them away rather than selling them, because the whole point is to get this plant back into the ground in as many places as possible.
The other half of the problem is where they go. UC Berkeley's Pipevine Preservation and Replanting Strategycommits to finding new places along Strawberry Creek for pipevine, and asks the public to submit suggestions. No list of sites was ever published, and none was shared with us. So this is the public version of that list: dated, mapped, and out in the open where it cannot quietly disappear. Every pin is a community member saying here, this would work. You can read our response to the campus plan for the fuller picture.