Passion flower help please

Sorry folks - 2nd thread question today! - need your advice again!

I planted some passion flower seeds and to my amazement they actually grew!!! (I'm not good with seeds normally! lol)

They are now in 5 " pots with 6 or so in each pot. They have reached about 12" tall on my kitchen windowsill.

My question is when can I plant them outside or when can I move them into my little stand outside with a plastic zip cover.

thank you

 

I would treat them very gently in their first Spring. You want them to grow as massive as they can before their first Winter to give them a good chance of getting through it (if it is as cold as the last one). So my plan would be to keep them growing vigorously before hardening off and planting out mid May or so.

Putting them outside in your plastic zip-cover "blowaway" during the day will be fine, but I would bring in for the night if the forecast is below, say, 5C

 

Thanks Kristen. Last year I had a whole fence covered with big passion flowers... Winter killed the lot :(
so I'm having to start again as I cant afford fully grown large plants all over again, hence I tried seeds. Thanks for the advice.

 

Are you sure last years plants are dead Karen?

Most years the roots will survive even if the top growth is killed, but I'm not sure how cold you got up there last winter.

Definitely start hardening off your new plants.

 

Theres absolutely no new growth on them so I think they are :(

We had weeks of snow that refused to melt and I didnt mulch or protect them.

 

They would not be growing yet, its too early.
The roots sucker on old plants.

But if they were newly planted last year, maybe they are gonners.

 

As Peter says Karen they may not be dead, mine looked pretty sad last year but did regrow and flower, and they look the same this year, I'm not giving up hope yet, thought my phygelius was dead when I cut it back it smelled awful but today noticed new growth at the base, so there's still hope:-)