hey,

to your questions, hight doesnt matter on when you plant them outside its size off roots and age of plant, if you have it in a 3 inch pot and roots are packet in there then it should do okay out side, because the soil will dry faster outside and your plants roots might not be established enough to reachout quick enough to drink.the other is age. if your plants have healthly lont tendrils on them already it shows they are ready to start grabbing things and grow up things outside. Now to your zone question, passiflora are tropical to sub-tropical plant so some can handel slightly colder temps but nut much i live in a zone 8 and my plants (like yours if planted outside) will die back to the root in the winter. this is not truly bad due to the fact that you will not have to cut it back any now. haha and they will regrow new shoots in the spring. most passiflora grow really fast and only flower on new growth like your blue one so its okay to let them die back after fall. As to your container question I love bringing my favorite passiflora indoors in winter. I leave my favs in 10 inch pots so it is easy to bring them indoors in winter. this also help in two ways, one is that passiflora flower and fruit better when there roots are bound(roots fill the pot). the second one is that if you keep you house at 70f all winter your plants will continue to flower and fruit all winter inside if they are in a good window. any more questions just post on here again sorry this is sloppy but im almost late for class. and needed to rush this.

There's no reason that they can't go in the ground once it warms up. There's plenty of time for them to establish a good root system before it gets cold. Caerulea is supposed to be cold hardy but I have lost it during colder then average winters and I'm in 7a. I'd keep one in a container just in case. You can allow the container plant to go dormant over the winter by keeping it in a cool, but above freezing location, like a garage. Just make sure you cut way back on watering a dormant container plant.

Thanks!! I think I will try one in the ground and one out. They were difficult to start from seed so I would hate to lose them both.

Zone 6 will be rough for any Passiflora, but P. caerulea, P. incarnata and P. lutea MAY survive. Very few other of the over 500 species of Passiflora will make it outside in your climate, and you would be hard pressed to find them. I don't blame you for wanting them in the ground though, so I would suggest a few things. First off, mulch like mad before winter, (like 6 inches or more), and if you have wet winters, cover the root zone so that very little water gets in. I don't think there are any Passiflora that actually like cold wet roots, even the hardy ones. When Spring starts to come around, thin the mulch and start to allow water in. I would also suggest to take cuttings of the plant before it starts to die back in winter so you have a backup you can keep indoors until spring. All three of those species I mentioned root fairly easily.

Good luck... let us know how it goes!

Eric Wortman
www.bloomingpassion.com