Boosted by last summer's easy success with Passiflora 'Sunburst' I dived in deep this year and decided I needed more (many more) passion flowers in my garden...
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Searching the interwebs for unusual, yet hardy, Passiflora I stumbled upon Passiflora lutea. A yellow-flowering, passion flower native to the eastern and south-central U.S. "from Pennsylvania west to Kansas, and south to Florida and Texas" (source). The fact it wasn't available anywhere on the West Coast should have deterred me, I suppose. But it didn't, it only made me more convinced that I needed to grow this in my Portland, Oregon, garden ... after all it is hardy to USDA Zone 5...
Trying to find a nursery that would ship proved to be an eye opener. The first few I tried didn't have any in stock, okay, that's understandable. Then came the group that wouldn't ship to Oregon because of the "sprays" that our state required. What? I wouldn't have been surprised to hear that if I lived in California, they have lots of requirements, but Oregon? Really? Then came the group that would ship (sprays not an issue, hadn't heard of them) but only next day air, because of distance, and next day air meant upwards of $50 just for shipping, then there was a minimum for ordering.
Then I discovered Mail Order Natives out of Florida.
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Their plants were $7 each and shipping was $15 if the order was under $25. Now I was shopping in April, so temperatures were still mild across most of the country - thus a slow train would not be an issue. I ordered a pair of the Passiflora...
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Both arrived looking good, I was really impressed with their packaging...
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I planted one at the base of my palm, a Trachycarpus fortunei...can you see it there on the left?
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I thought the leaves and flowers would look lovely working their way up the fuzzy trunk...
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Well, five months later and not much has happened. Perhaps it's just getting settled in? It is in a lot of shade but that's what I read they required. At least it's still alive.
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The other plant went at the base of the Clematis tibetana var. vernayi trellis, or rather the second trellis which is much less used by the Clematis.
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Five months later it's grown...
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And it's starting to work its way up the trellis.
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That's good, but still no flowers, maybe next year? I would love to hear from anyone who has personal experience with this plant- I've read mixed reviews about it's light requirements and tendency to spread.
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Passion flower lust still not satiated, Passiflora ‘Lady Margaret’ was grabbed when I saw it at Garden Fever. Its rebar cage a tribute to this garden, since all his exotic Passiflora climb rebar trellises.
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'Lady Margaret' has been a huge disappointment. Planted out in May it's barely grown...and of course there are no flowers...
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The HPSO Spring Plant Sale (Hortlandia) brought this Passiflora jamesonii 'Coral Seas' to my garden. It's grown like crazy.
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Up and over...
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It's working its way along a punctured piece of metal I attached to one of the fence boards.
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Happy happy!
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But not a single flower.
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Here's the instigator of this madness, the P. 'Sunburst' from last summer which I successfully overwintered by digging it up at the last minute and taking it indoors. It's been happily growing upwards for a few months now...
![]()
But, you guessed it, not a single flower...I am bummed.
![]()
In a moment of weakness I ordered two other Passiflora online from a vendor here in Oregon, there was a sale, you know how these things go. It was a foolish thing to do since it was already late in the season, then add in that shipping took a crazy long amount of time and they're just tiny things here at the beginning of August.
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This one is Passiflora 'Purple Tiger'...
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(I keep trying to make that into a little flower bud)
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And this one Passiflora rovirosae.
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It's got new leaves since arriving and being potted up. Neither of these are hardy here, that's why they're in containers. Next spring I'll plant them out, assuming they make it through the winter.
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So that's my tale of passion flower woe. Lots of leaves, lots of passion - no flower.
But wait! A package arrives in the mail, it's from Alan at It's Not Work It's Gardening.
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And what's that!?
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Passiflora incarnata, looking just a little frazzled from it's travels but it perked up in no time. Alan has written about his plant(s) several times, this post has a lot of great photos.
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Alan has encouraged me to put it in a container, to keep it from running amok. I am THRILLED to try this one in my garden, maybe it will give me the flowers I'm longing for?
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You may have noticed that was a rather big box Alan sent, and yes there was more than just the passion flower. My loot included: a pup from one of his NOID agaves, a pad from a NOID Opuntia (how many people can say they've got an agave and opuntia from suburban St. Louis? Not many I'm sure), Amorphophallus konjac, Pinellia pedatisecta, a couple of Jewels of Opar seedlings and a Manfreda virginica!
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This is a Missouri native plant I'd never heard of until Alan wrote about it, I'm pretty excited to have one! At least if my Passionflower collection doesn't bloom I've got lots of other exciting plants to distract me, thank you for your generosity Alan!
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All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.
Searching the interwebs for unusual, yet hardy, Passiflora I stumbled upon Passiflora lutea. A yellow-flowering, passion flower native to the eastern and south-central U.S. "from Pennsylvania west to Kansas, and south to Florida and Texas" (source). The fact it wasn't available anywhere on the West Coast should have deterred me, I suppose. But it didn't, it only made me more convinced that I needed to grow this in my Portland, Oregon, garden ... after all it is hardy to USDA Zone 5...
 |
| Passiflora lutea, Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons - here |
Trying to find a nursery that would ship proved to be an eye opener. The first few I tried didn't have any in stock, okay, that's understandable. Then came the group that wouldn't ship to Oregon because of the "sprays" that our state required. What? I wouldn't have been surprised to hear that if I lived in California, they have lots of requirements, but Oregon? Really? Then came the group that would ship (sprays not an issue, hadn't heard of them) but only next day air, because of distance, and next day air meant upwards of $50 just for shipping, then there was a minimum for ordering.
Then I discovered Mail Order Natives out of Florida.
Their plants were $7 each and shipping was $15 if the order was under $25. Now I was shopping in April, so temperatures were still mild across most of the country - thus a slow train would not be an issue. I ordered a pair of the Passiflora...
Both arrived looking good, I was really impressed with their packaging...
I planted one at the base of my palm, a Trachycarpus fortunei...can you see it there on the left?
I thought the leaves and flowers would look lovely working their way up the fuzzy trunk...
Well, five months later and not much has happened. Perhaps it's just getting settled in? It is in a lot of shade but that's what I read they required. At least it's still alive.
The other plant went at the base of the Clematis tibetana var. vernayi trellis, or rather the second trellis which is much less used by the Clematis.
Five months later it's grown...
And it's starting to work its way up the trellis.
That's good, but still no flowers, maybe next year? I would love to hear from anyone who has personal experience with this plant- I've read mixed reviews about it's light requirements and tendency to spread.
Passion flower lust still not satiated, Passiflora ‘Lady Margaret’ was grabbed when I saw it at Garden Fever. Its rebar cage a tribute to this garden, since all his exotic Passiflora climb rebar trellises.
'Lady Margaret' has been a huge disappointment. Planted out in May it's barely grown...and of course there are no flowers...
The HPSO Spring Plant Sale (Hortlandia) brought this Passiflora jamesonii 'Coral Seas' to my garden. It's grown like crazy.
Up and over...
It's working its way along a punctured piece of metal I attached to one of the fence boards.
Happy happy!
But not a single flower.
Here's the instigator of this madness, the P. 'Sunburst' from last summer which I successfully overwintered by digging it up at the last minute and taking it indoors. It's been happily growing upwards for a few months now...
But, you guessed it, not a single flower...I am bummed.
In a moment of weakness I ordered two other Passiflora online from a vendor here in Oregon, there was a sale, you know how these things go. It was a foolish thing to do since it was already late in the season, then add in that shipping took a crazy long amount of time and they're just tiny things here at the beginning of August.
This one is Passiflora 'Purple Tiger'...
(I keep trying to make that into a little flower bud)
And this one Passiflora rovirosae.
It's got new leaves since arriving and being potted up. Neither of these are hardy here, that's why they're in containers. Next spring I'll plant them out, assuming they make it through the winter.
So that's my tale of passion flower woe. Lots of leaves, lots of passion - no flower.
But wait! A package arrives in the mail, it's from Alan at It's Not Work It's Gardening.
And what's that!?
Passiflora incarnata, looking just a little frazzled from it's travels but it perked up in no time. Alan has written about his plant(s) several times, this post has a lot of great photos.
Alan has encouraged me to put it in a container, to keep it from running amok. I am THRILLED to try this one in my garden, maybe it will give me the flowers I'm longing for?
You may have noticed that was a rather big box Alan sent, and yes there was more than just the passion flower. My loot included: a pup from one of his NOID agaves, a pad from a NOID Opuntia (how many people can say they've got an agave and opuntia from suburban St. Louis? Not many I'm sure), Amorphophallus konjac, Pinellia pedatisecta, a couple of Jewels of Opar seedlings and a Manfreda virginica!
This is a Missouri native plant I'd never heard of until Alan wrote about it, I'm pretty excited to have one! At least if my Passionflower collection doesn't bloom I've got lots of other exciting plants to distract me, thank you for your generosity Alan!
All material © 2009-2015 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.