Passion flower from seed

michellellew

Does anyone have any experience of growing Passion flower vine from seed? I have a potted seedling that is now approx 12 inches tall with a view to planting it out in the garden in the spring/summer. Should I pinch out the growing tip to make it bush or just carry on training it up a stick? Any advice gratefully received 😊

clarke.brunt

I once grew a more 'tropical' variety of passion flower from seed - kept it in the greenhouse (that's decades ago). More recently, the house came with some of the 'usual' Passiflora caerulea in the garden - I found it would self-seed everywhere, which was a bit of a nuisance. I also have an ex-supermarket Passiflora 'Purple Haze' which is supposed to be a hybrid involving P. caerulea and P. amethystina - the flower is 'prettier' that P. caerulea, but it's almost certainly not as hardy, as I once had 'Purple Haze' die outside (I'd already taken cuttings which were inside - they root very easily). Since then, they've survived outside in pots for years, and I'm trying one in the ground again (planted out last year). In my experience so far, 'Purple Haze' doesn't produce fruits or seed, so avoids the problem of them coming up as weeds.

Back to your plant: they'll branch of their own accord, whether pinched out or not. I find them slow to get going in the spring, but in summer and into autumn, you can almost watch them grow. It's most likely to be P. caerulea, unless you know otherwise - as @philippasmith2 says, if it's anything else, then the hardiness varies.

michellellew

Thanks both, it is Passiflora Caerulea, used to have one in my childhood garden that flowered profusely every year. Still live in West Wales so hoping this will survive the winters too! It’s in a pot on the window sill at the moment, will harden it off gradually and plant out later in the year