This is passiflora "Lavender Lady". It is a cross between P. caerulea and P. amethystina. Beautiful flowers!

-Zem

Wow, that was pretty simple. Thank you! I looked up pictures of "Lavender Lady," and it seems like it. The filaments in the crown of thorns seem longer in mine, but it still looks pretty close to the pictures I've seen. My only reservation is that one of the sources said that "Lavender Lady" has 3-lobed leaves, whereas mine has quite a few 5-lobed ones. Perhaps this is a variable feature, given that it is a hybrid?

It looks like this will not be winter hardy in my zone 6. I'm not surprised. I have it outside, in the ground, so don't know if it would be practical to dig it up in the fall, or whether it's best to take cuttings. Does anyone have any advice on this? I'll have to check the FAQs and see if there is any helpful advice on overwintering, or taking cuttings, or whatever.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lavender Lady info--a somewhat complicated explanation

The true LL is not widely available, and most plants sold as LL are actually P. 'Amethyst'. LL is said to only have 3-lobed leaves, and 'Amethyst' often has 5, so you most likely have 'Amethyst'. If you apply pollen from another compatible passionflower, you will know for sure if you get fruit with seeds.

From looking at pictures posted around the internet, I've decided that the flowers on my vine look a lot more like ones labelled "Lavender Lady" than the ones that were identified as P. amethystina. When I first bought the plant, many of the leaves were 5-lobed, but now that it's grown, I just went outside to look at it again and found that the great majority of leaves are 3-lobed.

I just found a blog of someone who bought a passionflower at Lowe's last year. You need to scroll down almost 3/4 of the way down to see it. His flower looks very similar to mine, and he decided that his was either amethystina or "Lavender Lady." Based on the appearance of the flowers, if I must choose between the two, my vote would be "Lavender Lady" over amethystina.

Are there other possibilities? Could it be some strange, unnamed hybrid, sharing some of the same parentage? Is that a common occurrence with passionflowers bought at big box stores like Lowe's? If it's not "Lavender Lady," or amethystina, perhaps it's simply some unidentifiable hybrid.

Here is a link that might be useful: blog with photo of either amethystina or

It is definitely not P. amethystina, which is a species, but it is either 'Lavender Lady' or 'Amethyst', both hybrids. P. 'Amethyst' is often sold as 'Lavender Lady', so the only way to really know, as mentioned before, is fruit with seeds= 'Amethyst'.

Here is a link that might be useful: P. 'Amethyst' @ Passiflora Online

I have 2 large LL's. They have 3 lobed leaves and never get any fruit. The are prolific bloomers and grow quite rapidly. I winter mine over inside under HID lights and they do fine.
Karyn

Best way for me to tell is does it have any pollen on the pollen puls if it does its a amethyst and if it dont then its a lavender lady thats the easyest way for me to tell.

My goodness, the taxonomy of these things is confusing! I'm sorry that I misunderstood the reference to "Amethyst" as being the species P. amethystina. Now I see what was meant--at least, sort of. It sounds like even the experts are a little confused on the origins of these hybrids.

As for pollen, I just rubbed the anthers, and I did see a small amount of yellow pollen on my finger. That would make it "Amethyst," Angie, if you're right about that being a distinguishing characteristic. As for fruits, it's too soon to say. My Passiflora incarnata, which did not survive the winter, never did get any fruits last year. I was hoping that it would, but it didn't. I'll be surprised if this gets any either, but we shall soon see.

Karyn, it may be difficult for me to overwinter it inside because it is in the ground and I will have to dig it up and put it in a pot. I don't know if that would be successful or whether it would just stress the plant out and kill it.

I'm not very experienced with taking cuttings, but it seems to me that it would be best if I took some cuttings and rooted them before digging up and possibly killing the plant. That's the approach that makes the most sense to me. Are passionflowers easy to propagate from cuttings taken in the late summer or early fall? Once rooted, would they overwinter as houseplants? This is all pretty new to me, so I would appreciate any advice from knowledgeable folks on this forum.

Thanks for the info about Lavender Lady and Amethyst. Kiwinut, I'm still digesting that complicated link!

I've had good results rooting cuttings in water with bottom heat. You shouldn't have a problem digging up the rootball if you trim back the vine at the same time. I've cut back a number of my passies to just a few inches before taking them in for the winter. You could take cuttings early in the season and see if you can root them. If you're successful don't worry about trying to dig up the plant.
Karyn