It grows wild here in Hickory. The vine travels all over the place - full sun, part shade, whatever.

There are millions of different types of passion vine out there so your success kinda depends on which species of plant you got.

There is a few native species here and at least one of them is blue.

Be forewarned - they don't call them Maypop's for nothing. Once you plant it, it may pop up over here or it may pop up over there. I still grow them, but I have to weed them out of everything.

Logee's Greenhouse sells a number of passionflower vines, mostly tropical ones, but..., they might help find it, or a similar one. I don't remember the website address for them, but imagine googling would find it. They are in MA, as I recall.

If it's a tender one, then I would leave it in a large pot with a trellis and bring it inside for the winter - at least putting it into a sheltered area that didn't freeze.

Hi Robin if it is the native blue passionflower, it is easy to grow, not picky at all. Mine blooms better in full sun.

Sometimes I see wild ones growing at the edge of my land in weeds. So must be easy to grow. I may plant some, some time.

For those of you that responded, is yours evergreen or just perennial? I am in southern Wake and I am wondering what to expect this winter. I'd love to hear from someone who has experience with this plant.

Thanks!
Meredith

The native ones are not evergreen in my Garner garden. The highly invasive one Passiflora caerulea (or something similar) is completely evergreen down to like ten degrees.

If it's the one John's talking about, I really, really recommend not growing it. If I could go back in time and change the decision I made to plant that in my yard, I would. It gets in EVERYTHING, and appears 20 feet away from where you originally planted it...the original plant I put in is long gone, but the underground runners keep the thing alive. Seriously...don't. I pull it up all the time...every year, multiple times a year.

The only safe way to grow it is in large pots with a catch basin underneath (no soil contact). Otherwise the roots will crawl out of the bottom of the pot and invade your yard, your neighbors yard, the park down the street... I don't see this monster for sale at local garden centers but I do see it offered online, usually as a hybrid.

The one I purchased was passiflora incarnata. We have it planted at the school in a tub to try and slow it down a bit. Does anyone know how much of a problem child this one is in zone 7b?

Thanks for the replies!

Meredith

It's another rambler but not as aggressive about it as P. caerulea in my garden. If you want a lot of flowers you need the pot to be very big (like half whiskey barrel or bigger). They will bloom even in small pots but the floral show is much bigger planted in the ground or in the largest pot possible. At least it is a native.

To be honest, I bought it for the caterpillars to munch on. I am hoping that the kids will get to see some gulf frit. cats, cause they are quite interesting. Hopefully, they will help me keep it in-bounds. So, flowers will be fun, since the structure is so bizarre to look at, but they are not my main goal.

Thank you for all of the advice.
Meredith

As strange as it sounds I had better luck attracting Gulf Fritillary's to tropical passion flowers. I liked having them around because they never damaged the vine, you really had to dig around in the leaves to find them. I now have some Passiflora lutea which is a very cute vine and much easier to control. I'm hoping that some wayward Zebra Longwings wander away from the coast and take up residence in my backyard.

In what part of Hickory does it grow?