Climber with fruit?

Hi
Just wondered if anyone would be able to identify this for me;
I bought an evergreen climber about 4/5 years ago now and it has been very slow to grow. This year for the first time it had flowers and today I have noticed 4 purple fruit on it ( they look very much like plums in colour and size ) any ideas what this climber would be?
Many thanks
Kelly

 

passion fruit (known in south africa as granadella (sp) .... if it is passion fruit, let them ripen on the vine before picking (they are ready to eat when they are wrinkly)

 

I thought of that but if the OP is in the UK its not likely to have survived 4 or 5 yrs

 

one of my clients has one in cambridge in a sheltered spot in the garden .... she has been living there for several years and never knew she could eat it (until I tried one and told her)

I have another client who was aghast when I picked bright read fruit from a large tree in her garden and ate it .... she thought it was posionous berries

was the tastiest cherries I have ever eaten

 

Pete, they were at our place on the IoW for many years, fruiting every year ... depends on OP's location I guess. Unfortunately I have a rooting of it here ... it's just the common old Passiflora edulis.

 

yep basically weeds on the isle of wight worse then bindweed in some gardens

 

Edulis surviving the last three winters???????

IOW, it was even COLD down there.

 

Very, stranger things have happened though... can't think of any now mind basically we need a photo! the Passion flower which is common on the Isle of Wight is the standard Passiflora caerulea with orange fruits not the P. edulis with purple

 

Caerulea is common here also, but edulis with its purple fruits is non existent.

Agree, we need a pic.

 

purple passion fruit grows in Johannesburg south africa which experiences winter temperatures of up to -8 degrees C

I know that for a fact, because I lived there for more than 20 years, and my father had a wall that was planted with these ... I used to eat these when I was a child and 'plucked' them from the hedge

 

I agree with you here A ... but the P edulis is the purple one for sure. The P caerulea is quite rampant there and was hanging over all the walls down Shore Road heaving with fruit ...

Have to also admit I have not lived there for years ... but there is a strange micro-climate in that area, right A?

 

Yes but -8°C is extreme for Johannesburg and I'd be pretty sure that it would usually kill P. edulis (which is normally quoted as having a minimum temperature of about 10°C) the average coldest temperature in Johannesburg is around 6°C according to weather.com and you can also see that there's usually very little rain around the months when it is coldest which also probably helps it stay alive...

 

Minus 8 in Jo berg is not the same as minus 8 here.
Not that I've been there.:D

Its about 27 degrees south according to my atlas, and probably gets minus 8 due to altitude.

 

true with the rain .... it only rains in winter, but JHB is not the only area where these granedella grow .... the Cape has winter rainfall

however, on the highveld (JHB) , temeratures drop well below freezing (excluding the wind chill factor), and frost on the lawns is a very common thing on most mornings in winter

and .... JHB had snow this winter (june/july)

 

What does the temperature rise to during the day Dim?

You cant compare climates and growing conditions just on min temps alone.
Half hardy plants can often survive if the daytime temps are good.

Give them a few days below freezing and its a different story.

Another factor is wet frozen ground at root level.