Passion Flower

got up as i couldnt sleep 2 am and i am the only one on line, I think sssshhhh everyone is in the land of nod. You will have to try this sometime it is weird almost eerie.

 

Being vining plants that naturally grow up through trees, Passifloras can tolerate some shade - but that is in their native central and south America where light levels are very much higher than here. At our latitudes where light levels are relatively low, they always flower best in full sun. They are also most likely to survive winter when planted against a sunny, south facing wall so that their stems can 'ripen' properly. This is less of a problem with P. coerulea (pictured above), but vitally important for any of the near-hardy hybrids.

Nice pics of the penguins BTW. Paignton zoo has an aquatic centre down on the harbourside here (Torquay) and they are a major attraction. A while back they were an even bigger attraction when a couple escaped and were running about the habour!

 

Just a bit of trivia concerning Passion Flowers ....which you might find interesting, or already know ....The Passionflower was named after the passion of Christ. The 3 stamens represent the wounds, the 12 petals represent the apostles and the corona the crown of thorns. Passiflora caerulea, which is is also called the Blue Passion Flower is supposedly the original species to which the story relates.

I have passion flowers growing in full sun against a south facing wall (and it gets HOT here) my problem is controlling the growth...it throws up new shoots all over the place and generally goes berserk ... that said, it is a beautiful flower..... M-L

 

Morning, M-L, yes, I had read that story some years ago and recently related it to someone

I'm glad you mentioned it throwing up new shoots all over the place as I thought it was just mine! I decided I had planted it in the wrong place and so a couple of years ago I dug it up, root and all, and threw it away, only to have it coming up everywhere. I left one which was in a good position and that is the one is train now. My pink one is in a concrete container so I shouldn't have that problem.

I've had the same problem with Poinsettias. About three years ago I dug it up (it now happily lives in a friend's garden) but it sent up new shoots. Last year it went to around 3 metres tall but is a real beauty. Following it's resting period (February-April) I cut it back to about a metre and it immediately reshoots. Only downside is I have to crawl under a prinkly Lantana hedge twice a week to take new offshoots away from it :(

 

Thank you thank you ! for the link regarding the Penguins! must watch the film.

Thanks guys also for the advice on the Passion flower. Thank god i have a south facing yard so it should be pretty happy there as it get loads and loads of sun.
Its weird as the flower i took a picture of yesterday has now gone back to what looks like a bud and another one has flowered just above it.
The reason i think its weird is cos it looks like its going to re-flower rather than that flower die off.
How long do they flower for anyone? :confused:

 

They go on flowering all summer once they start, if you let the seed pods form then that slows them down a bit but until first frost is possible.
Yours may do a bit of growing (at the expense of flowers) once the initial flowers fade, if its planted out, as it gets used to having more root space.

 

Nice one for that matey, much appreciated....