First Bloom of Passiflora 'Sherry"

I wasn't happy about the long backorder when I first ordered the relatively new hybrid Passiflora 'Sherry' from Wayside Gardens this summer. I finally decided to just wait and now I'm glad I did. The plant that arrived was far from a happy camper, but started to grow after a full month of pampering. It was the last of four rooting cuttings that I ordered this year but the first to bloom. It's first flower (shown here was just about 1 foot above the pot and there are flower buds on every leaf node above this one. The plant is in an 8" pot and the main growth is approaching 4 feet. The flowers are striking but this one lasted only one day as many do. Offsetting this is the tendency, as advertised to bloom on small enough vines to make a great container specimen.

I've just had the honor of being the first to post a picture on the Plant Information Page.

Allan

Beautiful Allan. Congratulations!

Here's the second bloom. It opens flat and remains so until mid-afternoon when the petals and sepals reflex as in the first picture.

Here's a close-up.

This is my first bloom of Passiflora 'Lady Margaret', which is an interesting flower to compare to 'Sherry'.

Overall, 'Sherry' is the winner IMO. The flower is larger and bolder, and has a much more saturated and clean red color. The colors in the photos is very true to life. Sherry's sex organs are also bolder and held higher above the flower than Lady Margaret's.

I hope to have rooted cuttings of Sherry available for trading by next spring.

Allan

Allan I would love to trade you for one of your Sherry rootings when they are ready. Beautiful!

careyana,

Please send me a d-mail so I can place it in an appropriate folder. This way I'll be able to keep track of your request. Thanks.

Allan

Here's another shot of P. 'Lady Margaret' for a better comparison with P. 'Sherry'. 'Lady Margaret' is usually described as red.

Sherry is really cool I have a red but not quite like yours

heres a close up I like yours better than mine! Where did you buy yours? Very pretty both of them

Danasplants,

I believe that your plant is Passiflora coccinea> Please see:

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1558/

P. coccinea is a true red flower in my experience. P. 'Sherry' was bred more for container growing.

I got my P. 'Sherry' at Wayside Gardens, which I've heard is the only source because of an agreement with the breeder.

I've also read that Wayside has been very poor at delivering viable plants. Mine was in extremely poor condition when I got it and was touch and go for the first month. Please see the thread about P. 'Sherry' further down the Forum list from this one*. This thread was started two years ago and has several tales about Wayside's reputation on delivering this plant in good condition. Once it's healthy, it's quite easy.

* http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/828221/

My P. 'Lady Margaret' was obtained from Logee's. They show it (incorrectly) as a red flower.

Allan

Allan thanks for the info I had lady Margaret I killed her by mistake by giving her brug fertilizer. I just bought her again we have a DGer here thats sells healthy plants packs the plants bullet proof. I was taken by the pink one that Gordon has theres a couple different but he says he got his from Logee's also waiting for fall sale lol thanks again Dana

I agree with you that Logee's is generally a good source. Even without knowing someone there--though I'm sure that's a plus--they generally package their plants very well. Probably, we would all be better off if the breeder of P. 'Sherry' had cut a deal with Logee's rather than Wayside Gardens. Then the interest that was generated over two years ago would still be flourishing now.

Is the pink Passiflora you mentioned P. 'Coral Glow'? Just curious.

Allan

Look here Gordon Hawk has it theres a few different pink i like the one with the dark filliments rather than the white. When I get that one I am done hunting I just bought Jina from Ebay thats a cool looking one

I thought I'd bring the saga of this Passiflora up to date.

I'm beginning to better understand why this gorgeous flower is so rarely grown or even reported. Despite taking great care to assist 'Sherry' through the winter--bringing the pot inside whenever the overnight temperature was expected to drop into the 30s--the plant almost bit the dust in the Spring. It kept dying back to the older growth and finally started new shoots from below the soil line in early June. Thus it ended up with just about a month's gain on it's initial growth last year. Today it flowered for the first time this year. The plant is now about the same size it was when it started blooming last year, just one week later.

I can only conclude that this plant is not hardy at all, unlike the claims for this plant. It's too bad as this is such an outstanding beauty. Hopefully, I'll get enough growth this year to root a couple of cuttings. If I'm successful, I compare them in different winter and spring conditions.

My Passiflora "Lady Margaret', which was supposed to be of comparable hardiness, survived the winter, and even grew during it, is totally thriving and is about 10 feet high now. Unfortunately, 'Lady Margaret' is a smaller and much less showy a flower than 'Sherry'.

The picture is of today's first 2011 blooms.

Allan

Thats to bad Alan I have good luck here mine are in the ground though. I just bought some cuttings from Crimson Tears going to give it a try I went to Grassy Knoll and bought a few of theres they give some info on there plants as far as hardiness.