Hi Sherry,

How exciting!

Perhaps you and I have the same clone and there may be a different one out there. I have heard rumor that P. 'Incense' can be a rampant fruiter, but ours has literally thousands of flowers every season, and has never had one single fruit. That is, until this year. We hand pollinated 2 flowers with P. caerulea 'Constance Elliot', and 2 large fruits formed. Each one had only 4 seeds. None have germinated yet, but Passifloras can take a lot of time to germinate, so I'm not giving up.

Yours was likely germinated by a bee, but who knows? It is extremely unlikely that that P. 'Lavender Lady' is the parent, but a cross with P. incarnata would be awesome! As far as I know, (though I could certainly be wrong), the only thing that has been crossed with P. 'Incense' is P. caerulea. Definitely sow and grow those seeds if you get some. Keep me updated!

Eric

I had P. incense growing for several years. I had loads of blooms but never a single fruit. I even attempted hand pollination with a number of passies, including caerulea. Last winter was so cold that they didn't come back this year. Crystal sent me a sucker of hers (& Eric's) which is growing very nicely but will stay in a pot for now. I'll see if it suckers in the spring and will try some of those in the yard. I've tried hand pollinating this one too but so far no fruit.

Thanks for the info, Eric and Karyn!
I think P. incarnata 'alba' was likely the pollen parent, too - it grows next to 'Incense', while 'Lavender Lady' is down the fence a bit. I see bees nectaring on P. incarnata, P. incarnata 'alba', and P. 'Incense' more than any others.
I'll be watching the fruit, and of course I'll let you know the outcome, no matter how long it takes! :)
Sherry

Here's a picture of the fruit -
{{gwi:1133705}}
Sherry

P. Incense does need cross-pollination and P. incarnata is probably the best choice. I have lots of wild incarnata around, but my Incense only set one fruit the first year, quite a few the second year, and at least 100+ fruits the third year. The fruits typically have three good seeds, but this has varied from zero to as many as 15 seeds per fruit. This year it did not come back until late July, but has started setting many fruits. The wild incarnatas were also very late, 6-8 weeks later than normal, and maybe 70-80% did not return.

~kiwinut

Kiwinut,

Have you ever had luck germinating and blooming those seeds?

Eric

Yes, they germinate quite well. The hybrids lean more toward incarnata, but have lots of Incense characteristics and are highly variable. Many have been as vigorous as Incense, but much more fertile-at least as seed parents. Here is a photo of the best flower from these seedlings.

Incense x incarnata

That's pretty, Kiwinut!
Since mine was most likely pollinated by the pure white P. incarnata 'alba' the offspring could look different.
It sounds like P. 'Incense' makes more fruit with age, so I can anticipate more fruits in the future - it sure is vigorous, and it sends up more runner sprouts than P. incarnata!
Late July is REALLY late for a passi to return! I can't remember exactly when mine came back, just that it was sometime in early - mid spring.
Sherry

My incarnatas and P. Incense normally pop up in mid to late May and start blooming by mid June. This year's weather was very cool and wet and last winter was pretty cold, but similar winters have not affected them like this before, so it is puzzling why things were so late.

Your seedlings from Incense pollinated by 'Alba' will likely be just like any other incarnata as a pollen parent. The white mutation is recessive, so it will not show up in the F1 seedlings.

Hi Sherry,

My Incense plant usually puts out a few small fruit from unknown pollinators every year. I suspect the pollen donor is one of my several incarnata plants. Incense can be cross pollinated with other species, but I have only had success doing that with bud pollination. Some species pollinate it better than others. Caerulea is fairly difficult, but I usually get a few of those every year.

Mark