Tropicals & Tender Perennials: I just bought my 1st Passion Flower plant..., 1 by SusanLouise

SusanLouise wrote:
Hello All :)

I got a Passiflora caerulea (Hardy Blue Passion Flower). I'm excited and scared at the same time. I've heard the word invasive anytime I mention or see "Passion Flower". I was also told that as long as I plant it were the lawn is all around it, all I have to do is mow the extending suckers down as I mowed.
Hmmmmmmm...
Unfortunately, I want to be able to put it in the back of my new garden I'm planning, which will have nice composed soil added to the entire area for all the other new plants I'm putting in it as well....which will be an area of 35' x 8' approx. It will have mulch all around the plants too...which won't prevent the suckers from popping up...and there will be no use of the lawn mower in the garden.

So, now I'm having nightmares of this new Passion Flower taking over the garden and choking all the other plants and bushes...Good Grief!

The other problem I was having is deciding which kind of trellis/support to use for the area I want...my head hurts cause I couldn't seem to make a good decision. We have a brand new fence DH just bought last year...and it cost $$$$. I promised DH that the plant wouldn't climb on it (or I would cut it back when needed so it wouldn't). So I've been looking at obelisks and trellises. Since I can't seem to find one which I would consider reasonably priced, I'm having DH get a few T-stakes and I'll make a trellis with mesh netting like I did for our row of Honeysuckles.

I have a question and a request :)

My question is...since I'm in zone 5, and this Passion Flower is hardy to this zone, come "next" Spring, do I cut back all the branches down to about 12" above ground like a Pipevine plant, or do I leave the branches as is and just prune as necessary like a Honeysuckle?

My request is...can ya'll put a pic up of how yours is growing/where/how for me?
Although I've seen many Passion Flower pics...beautiful ones in fact, I really need to see the growth patterns and how they look on different kind of supports...that would be great! :)

I attached a pic of what area I'm talking about in our backyard...which would be about the middle of where the new fence is...

Thanks everyone! :)

Susan