I've had one that came from a local greenhouse (4 individual plants in a hanging basket)....each stem is about 3 feet long but it's still not blooming! I keep waiting and waiting...!

Hi Tim!

I see you made it here and lavenderlilly... These guys rock!... Cant wait to see what they teach us....

Hello,

I admit that I have never grown P. coccinea. The reason is that the red flowered species tend to be quite hard to grow if you do not have the appropriate climate. If you can provide it with a greenhouse in the winter, that would help. Then again, are we sure that this is P. coccinea? Unless you are getting it from a VERY reputable source, it is most likely a P. vitifolia. To make things worse, I recently heard that things sold as P. vitifolia are not really the original, but naturally occurring hybrids and it may even be lost to traditional cultivation. Whew... tough one.

I am also in zone 9 California, and though that doesn't narrow it down a lot, and you could have a better climate for growing this than I do, I have had no positive experiences to give you regarding any of the aforementioned. We have quite a few Passifloras, and would love to own some of the lovely reds, but other than hybrids such as P. 'Lady Margaret', P. 'Red Inca', and P. 'Sherry', (all the same cross, from different people), we stay away from them. Actually, those three hybrids would be quite recommendable for your situation as long as you can give them lots of sun in the growing season, and keep the roots fairly dry in the winter. They all bloom readily on new growth, and can be cut to size nearly any time of the year that it is necessary. Also they bloom fairly small, and that's always a good thing!

Hope my lack of experience still helped a little,

Eric Wortman

yep I made it barb.
eric, I am totally new & appreciate all your info. I had NO idea the reds are harder to grow. My spot isnt that ideal to begin with so it may be best I stay away from coccinea. I am near sacramento & it will get sun from noon on. A seller on ebay has this & he is very reputable so I believe it is what he says it is.

My main concern is them grow too big & I read these can get up to 30' maybe? I have purple haze on my list, I will look those others up you suggested.

Thanks for the help !!
Tim

going to google P. 'Lady Margaret', P. 'Red Inca', and P. 'Sherry now!

Eric, I Googled P. 'Sherry' - it has my name! - to see what it looked like. I've got 'Lady Margaret' and the blooms are burgundy red - the pictures of 'Sherry' look to be true red. I assume you mean it's another cross between P. incarnata and P. coccinea?
Has anybody grown 'Sherry'? Are the blooms really dark, true red, like P. coccinea?
Sherry

I've had P. vitifolia for years and it's consistantly my best blooming passie. It grows like mad and thrives with benign neglect. I love the flowers and the fruit is very pretty as well. I've heard that this is a much easier plant compared to coccinea. We'll see what happens with my coccinea seedlings. P. vitifolia's color is a true red unlike Lady Margaret. I've never even seen P. Sherry.

I have a few seed grown coccinea plants. They are one of the easiest to germinate, but my plants have never done well. I guess they don't like the heat and humidity of south Louisiana. The gulf frits really them too, so mine have been anything but invasive.

Mark

Hi
I'm in 10 florida so probably not much help for you but had to sound an alarm lol. I don't know which red I have as it was given to me as a cutting. While many vines especially passies are invasive here this one wins by a landslide lol. I've even completely removed evry scrap I could find and gave it a steady diet of roundup. Just popped up somewhere else lol I sure regret ever starting this monster.
I've given up removing it and let it climb the neighbors palms. Funny story about that as the neighbor asked what kind of palm has brilliant red flowers?? lol
So far she agrees they are BEAUTIFUL lol gary