Only just picked up a passionflower vine about a month ago from Lowes. I have a wooden fence along the back of my property that I'd like to see smothered by the vine.

Haven't seen much of anything from the plant just yet, but I had untangled it from it's mini-trellis, stretched it long (and high) and it hasn't shown any signs of suffering.

I have the vine between/behind 2 oaks on a north-facing fence and the bed it's in is getting gorgeous direct afternoon sun this time of year.

Really looking forward to seeing the vine prosper. I had cats tearing down my sole milkweed plant this season, and its the first time I've ever been a chrysalis custodian before. I'm anxious to play poppa to some Gulf Fritillary or Zebrawing.

Foreverlad, which one did you get?

Darren

I have a Maypop that I grew from seed. It sprouted back in June of this year and I planted it in the center of an 8x4 trellis (laid down length-wise) with a passiflora foetida (Stinking Passionvine) at each end of the trellis. Two passiflora caerula vines also managed to sprout late in the same location as the Maypop. By August the Maypop had dominated the trellis to the point where I could not see the foetida or the caerula. I have since removed the foetida all-together as it was not one of the ones I wanted (foetida was supposed to be alata) and the caerula is still hard to see amongst all the foliage from the Maypop, though it has finally sent tendrils up out of the mass of Maypop leaves to extend upward toward the sunlight. This trellis is on the north side of a 8wx10lx8h shed, so it has been pretty much in shade except the very top of the trellis since September/October. I fully expected both the caerula and the Maypop to get burned by the frosts we had on Thanksgiving Weekend, but they both made it through without any kind of damage and are still growing rather robustly. Though the Maypop has not produced any blooms since the trellis fell into the shade for most of the day.

So, I don't know why theirs was in dormancy since I did nothing to protect my young vine planted on the north side of the shed and on the west end of my house in a spot that gets no sunlight during the winter months and is still growing at full speed. Perhaps they throw theirs into a freezer at night to force dormancy?

Darren,

Purple Passionflower, Passiflora Incarnata, a Fl native.

Oh, doing some quick research, I came across your other PF thread. That red is gorgeous. Here's hoping your cuttings turn out as gorgeous as that mailbox find.

Here is a link that might be useful: Your other Passion Flower thread

Leekleman,

I spoke with the staff today at the horticulture extension office and the lady there, although professional, was pretty much convincing (as others have) warning that if I put the maypop in the ground, it would kill my other trees. As you know, there a plenty enough invasive plants here in Central Florida that I certainly don't need another. I still want one, but will grow it in a hanging basket(s). It is good to know how hardy it is, but come to think of it, the one I saw in the wild was in the lower suwanee refuge(zone 8 I think). Everything I've read about it suggest it is hardy and yet the plants today looked neglected rather than dormant. One plant was 6" high but in a five gallon pot? Thank you for sharing the status of your plant since you've had much harder temps than the zone 10 area where I was at today.

Foreverlad, I raided that red plant on the mailbox twice and twice my cuttings failed. So far I'm not doing good with vines. I revisited that mailbox a 3rd time, no charm, just chopped down as the bank is trying to sell/rent the home there.

I do have a p.vitifolia which I have a couple of cuttings going right now.......

Darren

Here's a pic of my Maypop vine taken this morning. This is all from one 6 month old vine. You can not really see the caerula except at the very top where I trained a tendril up onto that ramp piece. I just threw that ramp up yesterday and still need to secure it in some fashion, but I wanted to give the caerula somewhere to run and be seen and get some sun.

{{gwi:988591}}

As for the invasive status of Maypop, Passiflora incarnata is supposed to be one of the two native species to Florida, I think Corkystem is the other, Passiflora suberosa. Will it kill a tree? Possibly. You can see how well this one is doing at covering the trellis. But that doesn't mean it's invasive. It just means you need to find a safer place to plant it. One note about the incarnata is that when temps get down low enough, it should die back to the woody section. All the soft stuff should freeze and die. This should give an established tree a fighting chance. I'm waiting for mine to die back so I can move it to the south side of my shed for next year. I would try to separate the caerula from the incarnata, but I think the roots are going to be too mixed to do so successfully.

Looks like they have Corkystem on sale at the Gainesville Butterfly Museum Plant Sale.

I read someplace that red passies are poison to the butterfly, that the only red that is safe is the Lady Margaret...is this true? My Lady M. grows very well in a pot and flowers, no dormancy for her.....sally

I have three vines in Miami and I have mixed feelings about it. Apparently not all vines are self pollinating and my pollination attempts have been utter failures. The vine themselves are beautiful filled quickly the hedge and makes glorious flowers. Again in Miami it is invasive I find I always have to clip it to keep it in check. This should not be as big a problem further North. Best.