Pipe bindweed, Aristolochia – care and reproduction

The pipeworm wants to be planted in a well-drained soil that really should never dry out for too long. Such soils are called fresh soils and ideally consist of humus soil that is well populated by microorganisms and is continuously loosened by them. If your garden soil is too firm, you may want to work some sand in before planting a bindweed.

Pipe winds can actually cope with any location in the garden, they thrive in partial shade as well as in full sun, even a shady location usually cannot prevent them from growing vigorously. If you want it to grow in full sun, the foot should grow in the shade. The only requirement for the location that she would like to have fulfilled is a somewhat sheltered location, not difficult to understand with such large leaves.

When choosing the location, it must of course be borne in mind that the Aristolochia is perennial and well frost hardy and will probably develop well in the garden. If it does, it will grow to a height of 8 to 10 meters, in a twisting and climbing form, so it definitely needs a climbing aid (how this can and should look will be discussed later).

In addition, the best-known marshmallow, the Aristolochia macrophylla, develops an exceptionally lush plant mass, large, heart-shaped, medium-green leaves that overlap like a giant kind of green scaly layer. Small, but strikingly colored and shaped flowers appear in spring, and then maybe cucumber-like capsule fruits appear in autumn – a moth is really something, so it can be planted in any location where a real eye-catcher is needed. There are other types of whistle winches that are smaller-leaved, they can also be mixed with visually inconspicuous plants.

The pipe binders should be placed at a planting distance that is about half as large as the plant should grow wide. If the Aristolochia macrophylla can grow as it likes, it will spread out about three to four meters horizontally.

Taking care of the whistle winch

The whistle wind originally developed and spread from north to south-east of the USA, so it knows warmth reminiscent of Mediterranean areas, but also a similar climate to ours, it is unproblematic to keep in us.

The soil should never dry out completely, the ones that need to be watered regularly are quite sensitive to drought, so if in doubt it must be watered regularly. When it is hot for a long time in summer and at the same time persistently dry, some Aristolochia react rather gruffly, so they should be watered abundantly.

But they don’t want to stand in the wet either, so waterlogging should never be able to form at their location, the permeability of the soil should be checked occasionally.

Otherwise, the pipe winds are quite undemanding in their care, actually a pipe wind will tolerate almost anything if it only receives enough water.

If the pipefish is fertilized, it grows even faster, in some locations you should consider beforehand whether you really want that.

(Façade) design with the climbing plant, whistle winch

The Aristolochia climbs looping, so it spirals up its climbing aid. At the same time, it is able to create dense canopy walls in which the heart-shaped leaves lay on top of each other like shingles, so it grows on its own into a facade protection, the design of which could also come from a textbook. With whistle winches you can also design green roofs, or wall vegetation, where the plant should grow overhanging. In the Aristolochia, the vigor goes into the leaves, the annual growth in shoots is rather low, especially in the first few years. Since the plant with its large masses of leaves evaporates a lot, it ensures a pleasant climate in its vicinity, as a facade greening or on the trellis around a seat. It grows on trellises to form opaque green walls.

Pipe binders are “almost evergreen”, the leaves remain on the plants from May to November, but in the following winter the pipe binders do not look as “scrubby” as some other climbing plants because the shoots formed in the previous season remain beautifully light green. Only the older shoots lignify and then take on a brownish-gray color.

The best climbing aids for the pipe winds

The pipe winch, which works its way upwards like a kind of corkscrew, gets along best with climbing aids that are arranged vertically. These can be rope systems, but also wooden kits, but then please in a very heavy and solid design, only the whistle winch in the bucket will not bring a trellis in light wooden construction into unplanned forms.

The individual struts should be attached at intervals of about 30 to 40 cm. The wires, rods or tension cords should be equipped with a rough surface, so the plant can work its way up better, it has no holding organs of its own.

Horizontally arranged wires, ropes, rods or slats improve the hold of the pipe winches very little, so they can be limited to what is necessary by the technology or the design. If you want the plant to grow along the horizontal strands, braid the shoots there.

The sturdy Aristolochia macrophylla grows so loopy that it not infrequently deforms the climbing aids.

Cut the whistle binders

The whistle winch can always be cut back as required, it can withstand even the strongest cut back. And you will want to cut back at some point, a pipe winch creates around 2 meters of growth per year, which is welcomed at the beginning can quickly get out of hand. Above all: What grows slowly here at the beginning becomes more and more fast-growing, similar to ivy. The pipe winch loops around everything that crosses its path, the downpipe and the gutter and the window handle that has never been used.

If you want to or have to free something from the “grip” of a pipe winch, you do not need to pay attention to the season, but can use scissors whenever you want, or as soon as a tendril moves in a direction that you do not like.

If you would like to have a general pruning of the whistle twine, it is best to grab scissors before budding begins in spring, then you can see very well where it is best to cut something away. It is the same with the clearing cut, which is due every two or three years, here you should cut the side branches by half, if you want to see more flowers in the next year.

Multiplication of Aristolochia

If an Aristolochia is not enough for you (e.g. you want to green huge factory halls), you can quickly multiply the pipewinder:

Cuttings can easily be rooted, they can be cut sometime in summer, or you separate a few of the runners formed by the plant itself, or you stick Aristolochia in the ground next to the mother plant in the lower area, where these sinkers will also take root quickly .

Wintering of the pipewinder

You do not need to worry about wintering the Aristolochia, it is absolutely hardy.

Varieties of Aristolochia

You can choose from these types of whistle winch in stores:

• The Aristolochia macrophylla is the so far described, with us best known large-leaved pipe bindweed, it has hairless shoots. It is also known by the name of the American pipefish, and the botanical name is also ambiguous, you may also come across A. durior or A. sipho.
• The climbing bindweed Aristolochia tomentosa has significantly smaller leaves than the large-leaved bindweed, but is (still) less demanding.
• Then there is another Aristolochia moupiensis in culture, which is only about 4 m high and also has small leaves, but it is only very rarely offered in Germany.
• Only a few of the around 300 species of the genus Aristolochia thrive in Central Europe. B. purple flowers that grow up to a meter in size.

The pipe winch in the garden design
Pipe winches can also be used for completely different garden design tasks than facades and roofs: On rose arches and trellises, fences and climbing pillars, arbors and pergolas, it also grows as a privacy screen and shade provider.

Interesting facts about the whistle winch

The piped bindweed is also called Osterluzei, because it belongs to the family of Osterluzei plants. That is a bit inaccurate: It is an easter luzei, but not an easter luzei, this place is taken by the common easter luzei or Aristolochia clematitis, a climbing plant native to the Mediterranean area, which was released to us a long time ago and is now on the red in several German federal states List of endangered species is available.

The Aristolochia macrophylla not only beautifies our gardens, but is also a research object for bionics: It can repair cracks in its reinforcing tissue itself, based on this model, attempts are currently being made to develop a self-repairing foam protection for air-filled separating layers.

The name pipe binders comes from the fact that someone at some point believed that the flowers of the pipe binders should resemble small tobacco pipes, but when asked (of course not pipe smoking) children clearly saw dwarf boots.

Even if the tobacco pipes are more likely to be forgotten, Easter fluffy plants are not for children, they contain different amounts of aristolochic acid depending on the variety, and it is poisonous. If you want to green your facade with Aristolochia, you should therefore not worry too much, the aristolochic acid is mainly in the roots and seeds.

The pipe winch has another peculiarity that reduces the risk of people nibbling on your facade protection: The flower of the Aristolochia is a cauldron-trap flower, where the plant catches flies in order to be pollinated. In order for this to work, the flower develops a smell that is rather reminiscent of carrion or excrement, so people with sensitive noses should rather “try out” before planting an Aristolochia. But no child tries such a smelly flower either, so no cases of poisoning have been reported.

Conclusion
The pipe winch is a great climbing plant for all possible purposes, which with its life expectancy of 50 to 100 years will fulfill its tasks for a very long time. An odor test is only recommended if you want to locate the climbing maxi in the immediate vicinity of human abodes.