Consider its water needs in a planter. My two passies in pots: one still in original black plastic pot sits in water (prepare for mosquito larvae) and one is in a larger, well draining plastic planter and usually wilts by the third day. They sit next to truncated young junk trees from which I attached (hung) the runners with fishing line. Has worked well for 2 years. They haven't expanded much, but only get afternoon sun and rarely fertilized. Yesterday, 2 gorgeous flowers on the p.i. (cooler weather).
On the other hand, I have never seen a butterfly on either. One is a Lady Margaret... the only uneaten passie left when I got it at Crowley's in Sarasota... maybe that was significant!

A neighbor up the street from me has Lavender Lady and hers doesn't get any caterpillars while as my P. incarnata Maypop is usually covered in them. Summer before last, the caterpillars kept it looking a bit bedraggled, but this past summer the vine was able to keep up with the caterpillars and kept my entire 8x10 shed covered in green foliage. So maybe there is something about the hybrids that make them less desirable to Gulf Frits. Neither of our vines are in enough shade to be appealing to Zebra Longwings. Similarly, the lady I am designing for has next to no shade in her yard, so she won't be providing for Zebra Longwing cats. Butterflies themselves don't seem too interested in the flowers on the Passionvine, but I have seen a hummingbird at them from time to time.

With my vines, I have runners coming up in my tropical bed as well as my shrub bed. They're not too annoying for me as they're easy to pull up, but I wouldn't want to plant a vine in this lady's small lot and have it take over. I might go with one of those self-watering pots with the basin at the bottom so she can easily check the water levels, but I thought a hanging basket would be a nice way to go. One thing I thought about last night, however, that makes me question if this would be a good idea is that Passionvine doesn't really droop but likes to climb. So I think having a hanging pot just wouldn't work that well.

A blooming hanging pot is always nice to watch for new blooms. Nasturtiums, for instance, cascade nicely and "have faces" (!). A series of seasonally blooming pots to switch out, if you can spend the effort.

I bought a vine called 'Passion Fruit Vine.' I put it in my butterfly garden and this vine is taking off. Has me a bit concerned. The leaves got so big and tendrils all over the place. I'm trying to train it on a privacy fence but it seems to be sending branches all over.

I hope I didn't make a mistake. I bought it at a reputable nursery who said it would attract butterflies.

Does anyone know what Passion Fruit Vine is??

Thanks,
Jane

It sounds like a Passionvine. People call it Passionflower, Passionvine, Passion fruit, so I guess Passion Fruit Vine works too. If I had to take a wild guess, since yours was labeled as 'Passion Fruit Vine' it is one of the edible varieties.

Supposedly all Passifloras, the genus of the Passionvine, will attract Gulf Fritillary and Zebra Longwings to lay their eggs, but whether the vine is in sun or shade will determine which you get. In sun you will get Gulf Fritillaries, in shade you get Zebra Longwings. And while all the Passifloras might attract the butterflies, not all are safe for them. Some, like the Scarlet Passionvine, are toxic to the caterpillars.

Passionvine is indeed a very vigorous vine and while it can be trained to grow up a structure, it will want to go in all directions. I have seen this vine in the wild and it had spread itself like a blanket (but not a smothering blanket like air potato or kudzu) over several shrubs under a canopy of oaks (lots of Zebra Longwings in the area). It will also expand itself underground via runners. They can be a nuisance for some, but I find them easy to pull up. A way to contain these runner roots is to plant the vine in a sunken 3-gal pot which will constrict the runners and keep them more or less contained.

A picture of my two passionvines, P. incarnata and P. caerula growing on my shed. This pic was taken last spring, by the end of summer it had pretty much completely covered the shed and was hanging down the other side. It also took a quick bi-weekly trimming to keep it from covering up the shed doors.

This post was edited by Leekle2ManE on Thu, Jan 15, 15 at 7:56

Thank you Leekle. When do they flower? When can you start cutting them for control?

Jane

I started both of mine from seed and it took one year to start getting blooms on my P. incarnata and two years for my P. caerula. By the third year, both were pretty good bloomers. But to see the flowers, you have to time it right. My P. incarnata blooms in the wee hours of the morning, start to curl around 9 am and are usually pretty much done by 10-11 am. The P. caerula blooms in the late afternoon when the sun starts reaching for the horizon. My neighbor's Lavendar Lady blooms pretty much non-stop through the day, hers has been in ground for about five or six years.

If the vine is growing, you can start cutting on it. The first year for my plants, I moved them before winter kicked in and they died back to the ground. I had thought I had lost them, but the both came back when Spring came. This gave me the idea to prune back hard in late winter and I have done this the past two winters, trimming down to about a foot from the ground. This winter has been so mild, however, that they are both already coming back with a vengeance. If I ever decide to get rid of these vines (not likely), I could have a fight on my hand.

I wouldn't hang them, they would take too much work watering them all the time to keep them healthy.

I think your idea of putting them or it in a large pot and then planting that sounds good. That will take less watering and they will still grow enough to attract butterflies.

The best vine I have found for both Zebras and Fritillaries is the Corky-stemmed passion flower (Passaflora suberosa). This vine isn't as invasive as some of the others and probably does better for Zebras than it does Fritillaries, because it likes shade.

It will take some years for this vine to spread much. I now find it in many place of my garden, but it doesn't take over; it seems to like to co-exist with other plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: Passaflora suberosa