Fragrant passion flowers

10 years ago

I'm sort of obsessed with passifloras.
I've tried a few fragrant varieties and thought I'd share my experiences with everyone. :)

My favorite for ease of bloom and for a great fragrance is Passiflora x alatocaerulea aka Passiflora x belotii.
The scent is very hard to describe but I love it.
It doesn't waft and you have to stick your nose into the bloom but I think it's worth it.

My fav for fragrance is Passiflora x decaisneana however it's a huge vine that needs a lot of space and takes a year or more to finally start blooming. It bloomed inside in a sunny room after growing outside all year. To my nose it smelled like a Damask Rose. So for those with short growing seasons and no room indoors or who don't have a greenhouse I wouldn't suggest this variety.

I've also tried P. mooreana which to me smelled like funky grape soda. P. serratifolia smells like sugary Easter candy. It's just okay to me.

Hopefully P. venusta (rose scented?) will bloom for me next year along with P. 'Preciosa' (heavy floral fragrance?).

Of course one day I hope to sniff P. colinvauxii (honeysuckle?), P. gibertii (daisy, strong, sweet fragrance?), P. cyanea (vanilla pipe tobacco?), etc.

I've attached a photo from The Essence of Paradise by Tovah Martin. She suggests several passifloras for fragrance.
One of my favorite books for fragrance suggestions. :)

Anybody else have any fragrant passion flowers they would like to suggest?

-Robert

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Comments (6)

fragrant2008
10 years ago
lol P.Jorulensis i think thats the one for me :) Its one plant i have never grown maybe because of the room i think they would take up might give one ago next year tho .
But i will deffo look up the book you mentioned thanks
fragrant2008
10 years ago
The Essence of Paradise for indoor gardens is that the one Robert?
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Robert (zone 7a, Oklahoma)
Original Author
10 years ago
Yup! The Essence of Paradise Fragrant Plants for Indoor Gardens by Tovah Martin.
Awesome book! :)

-Robert
jimshy
10 years ago
Passie's are definitely obsession material! Check the passionflower forum, they probably have a couple of threads on fragrance.

For indoors, I can recommend p. standleyi if you can find it, although the fragrance is soft and not very strong.

P. mooreana I've grown for several years and never flowered, any tricks?

My colinvauxii died before it flowered, but it, and the closely related (and hard to pronounce) quiquangularis are both supposed to be fragrant and easy to grow.

Many hybrids with caerulea have some fragrance, although the straight species smells a little . . . off, to me. Ditto for incarnata and its hybrids.

Trifasciata is supposed to be fragrant and is a good choice for indoors,

Any others?
Robert (zone 7a, Oklahoma)
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi Jim!

I haven't seen you post here in forever! :)

I got my P. mooreana from Almost Eden in January '12. It bloomed for me in May of that year. I grew it in a tall narrow pot (12" tall, 10" wide) in the fast draining 5:1:1 mix in full sun outside.
I hope yours blooms since I'm curious as to what your thoughts will be on its scent.
We seem to have similar scent tastes.
I think P. caerulea has a funky medicinal scent. My partner planted it on our arbor and it's threatening to take it over but the bees like it.
P. incarnata has a musky scent that I don't particularly find pleasing but boy do the bumblebees love it!
Have you smelled P. alatocaerulea? It seems to have been blessed with more of P. alata's scent. :)

-Robert

Here is a link that might be useful: P. mooreana blooming for me

This post was edited by robert1971 on Mon, Nov 4, 13 at 14:02
ladylotus
10 years ago
What a great list of fragrant passion flowers. I purchased these this spring:
Passiflora Mollissima
Passiflora vespertilio Black Passion Flower plant
Passiflora pallida v. Papua New Guinea

I'm hoping I get keep them alive over the winter in my greenhouse. I am going to look for some plants that you listed this spring.

Thank you, I'm off to research.