This was ID's as a passiflora in DG. When I moved here this vine had died/been cut to the ground. It was one of my many pleasant surprises. We had a hard two week freeze earlier this month but it's still green. Now, I see buds (I think they are flower buds). What should I do? I was going to cut it back like it was but it's so pretty I hate to. I don't want to damage it and I know NOTHING about passifloras. Advice?
It will be OK to leave as it is, I have a caerulea and leave it until spring, then just cut off any dead looking bits. Your flower buds don't look like mine, but it has to be quite hardy to get through hard frosts. Mine is on a south facing wall, has climbed to the roof (double story) and goes rampant along the electricity cable, so we cut some back this autumn. It will start romping away in spring and produce hundreds of flowers for many months, mine was still flowering until the frosts, and I can see there are still some buds but not likey to come to anything at this time.
Yours might be a p. edulis, I had the purple one a gew yeas back just when we had very hard, prolonged frost, and it didn't survive, but have no problems with this one.
This pic taken 18th August
I should have added that if it is a rampant grower, you will need a support system for it. They make tendrils that wrap tightly around wires. I have several rows of thin garden wire with a green coating strung along the wall about 15" apart. You can get special screws with an eye. i.e. the end is in a circle to tie the wire to. it is possible to use other support systems, but one this size needs to be strong. You see them being sold with little hoops of wire, but only suitable if a slow grower.
Oh my gosh, I had no idea! If mine is going to grow like yours I'll have to move it. It's climbing the bird feeder here and there's no place else for it to go!
Oh dear, it looks like a young plant, within a couple of years it should be well established. You might like to see what flowers you have on it next year, they start flowering early, then you can see which type it is. mine has been through -9C (around 16F) and prolonged frost, it generally doesn't damage much of the foliage, just the newest youngest growth. This is on a south facing wall though, so gets some warmth from the sun on the wall, but it was a young plant when it went through a lot of frost, and everything was frozen hard. A small nursery not far from me had his frozen, but the thick main stem survived. The p. edulis is generally not hardy past -6C, but even then only for short periods. I have had the odd ornamental fruit, edible but very bland on caerulea, and have a couple of self set seedlings. Good luck.
Bye-bye birdies...
Perhaps it could be moved to the trellis in the background?
That is a glorious vine, Wallaby. When does it begin to bloom, and is it more free-flowering or more determinate? P. incarnata is quite determinate here, blooming all in late summer. (I envy your availability of rarer plants on your side of the puddle, Wallaby! Say Crocosmia, Clematis, and Ginkgo cultivars)
My P. caerulea looked fine down to 10 degrees F,(-12 C) but at 5F (-15 C) it looked like boiled lettuce.
I started a cutting of P. edulis to try as a herbaceous perennial in a microclimate here.
We'll see.
P edulis not as hardy as this one, mine came back weaker a year or two then left this planet all together. I'd say it is a heat trap where I've got it, that is if we get any heat.
I think it starts in May, it just keeps growing and making buds in all the leaf axils until the really cold weather knocks the buds back, this snow we had last couple of days with 0C in day has made it all look a bit yellow. It is indeterminate if we're talking as in tomatoes, I have put more wires in to take it over the window, just had nowhere to go, it grows over the edge of the wall too, into the roof tiles, just loves to work its way along the double electric cables, I keep thinking the weight will knock them together and cause a major power failure. Imagine it growing all the way across the cables above the garden, the electric company would surely charge me far any failures in the district!
I envy you your daylilies, tropical plants, or anything I can't get and really want, never satisfied are we, crinums are another, it has been costing me money and more money trying to get some. It's the straight hair curly hair syndrome.
And where the grass is always greener...
I will be trying P. caerulea 'Clear Sky' next year. It si said to have twice-sized flowers. Vines are just the cat's meow. I am enjoying the mental image of your Pas. on that wall, roof, window and powerline.
I have two vines, one is red and the other is blue. Neither of them have had many blooms (maybe three or four for the year). The red has been killed back by the frost, the leaves on the blue are still green. They both are vigorous growers, but even tho they don't bloom, the butterflies are constantly laying eggs on them, so they still bring me enjoyment.
Haven't heard of Clear Sky, but mine are quite big. I got it from someone at a car boot, the guy seemed to be into growing the unusual. Nothing like the real thing, but I go around and sometimes have to remind myself to look up at them, they have grown quite low down now, and it's great to see the flowers hanging over the kitchen window. They were stil there well into November with the frosts, this pic was taken 16th October
Hi pp, that's interesting, the butterflies, I had many this year, they fed on species dahlia, but often flew towards the roof. I wonder if they were living in the vine, not sure about the eggs, my book hasn't mentioned passiflora for the butterflies I had, no sign of eating them either, but I do have a phygelius aquelis 'Yellow Trumpet' nearby that gets hole ridden leaves. Every year i get some white caterpillars with black spots on it, but too many smooth-edged holes for them. It's a mystery, they just appear. I wondered if moths had anything to do with it.
Your vine might start flowering more when it gets a bit older, they are supposed to like a lot of feeding, but I don't do much at all.
PP, I can think of two more things that can also slow down flowers; insufficient light and too much nitrogen (or too little phosphorous.)
Since the Passifloras are new-worlders, I imagine that the Fritillary butterflies that eat them do not live in Europe. I could be wrong. Folks in the Southern U.S. sometimes lose their vines entirely for a season.
P. caerulea is awesome in the cold, and That is a great picture. I will see if I can find some info on 'Clear Sky' for you.
K. James
James thanks for the pic, what I am looking at seems to be a larger fringe, not sure about the petals. I saw one that looked quite plain around the centre, mine has a narrow dark ring, and strongly coloured 'bits' clasping the pistil stem. Will have to do some searching.
Janet
How do you mean "fringe," Janet?
I think that the link's picture is of flower whose petals are recurved a bit, which actually make the diameter look smaller.
You know, I have often wondered about those variations. I truly think that plant individual, strain, soil, season, temperature, light, and even time of day affect it. (But, judging from pictures, I think that individual plant is the biggest factor.) Those style-clasping bits are just younger, undeveloped filaments, or petaloids, as I understand, -I love them.( so much so, I was actually inspired to paint them!) Different sizes of flower seem to have different number of layers of these fun little poky-doodles. I also do think that heat or plant ill health will fade the color. End-of season blooms seem smaller, too, and the parts seem effected by that.
I need to get off the computer, I have a Passiflora 'Lady Margaret' cutting in my pocket that I had forgotten!
(Kenton) James
The following was taken Noveber 4, this year after our first frost, which came in at -4 C.
Oi, did you see this picture?:
http://www.passionflow.co.uk/clearsky2.htm
yes James, could be the soil etc, still struggling with the 'fringe' or filaments, they look bigger even if petals are recurved, mine also went thru frost to -4 in mid Nov it started and went on for at least 2 weeks, mostly -2C, what a plant when you think of it!
Give your cutting a good drink in water to perk it up, I hope it growS for you, I have done that before!
Here's one I took Sept 9th, can see a double layer of filaments, it has quite strong 'extras'.
Haven't done any searching yet, thanks for the reminder
Thank you all. I have been following this with really nothing to add as I'm totally ignorant about passifloras. So, no decision until it blooms. If it's going to grow up to be huge, I move it. Trellis in back is out, there's a concord grape there (unless I move that too?). Oh dear.
Welcome to the humor/nature/motto of vines, KatyMac; "Take it over if ya' can!"
Wallaby: the P. 'LM' cutting was in a baggie with a drop of water, so it should be fine. I enjoy the recurved redness of 'Lady Margaret.'
Your picture shows one very healthy plant. That is the climax of the qualities for which I love Passiflora. I have seen three full layers of filamentation (not including undeveloped and short ones.) on a sister-clone of my plant. The number of stripes on the filaments/petalloides is yet another variable characteristic...
