Hello friends.
I was out looking at the damage from the4-6 hard freezes we've had over the last week or so. Almost every plant left out has turned to mush except for 3 seperate P. Constance Elliot passion flower vines! I couldn't believe my eye's then my wife came in later asking me just what the heck these plants were that showed no signs of freezing. I have around 6 different passiflora's I didn't have room for indoor's for over wintering so they became a unexpected experiment. P. Belotti, P. Incarnata, P. Lavender lady, P. Alata and P. Caerulea are all wilted mush but the C. Elliot shows absolutely no signs of frost/freeze at all! I know they froze solid, I saw frost crystal's on the surface of the leaves. I can't understand how in the heck this plant is doing this. I have 3 of them planted far apart, 1 on the North side, 1 on the South side and 1 on the West side of the house. None are sheltered by anything and all are growing on steel and wood handrails. I just can't believe what I'm seeing so I'll try to take some pictures today if possible to show you all these babies compared to all the other plants outside.
Has anyone else left 1 of these outside over winter? If so, what did you observe? I'm now going to mulch the heck out of them to see if they could possibly survive and hopefully come up next spring. I'll keep you posted and get some proof in the form of pictures.
Good day all;)
JD
Passiflora C. Elliot thrives after HARD FREEZE!
I finally found a minute to take a couple pictures of 1 of these thriving vines. Sadly the photos are pretty bad IMO. If you look closely, there is a hibiscus stalk on the left of the passiflora and there used to be a P. belotti intertwined with this P. Constance Elliot. You can see the C. Elliot is absolutely thriving and everything else is dead. The 3 C. Elliot's that are still in the ground look much healthier than the 2 I have growing indoors! Go figure.
As of today, we've had atleast 14 days of below freezing weather and 2 nights that were at 25F or just below.
This plant is just mind boggling, I've never seen anything other than Columbine thrive in such weather. Anyhow, here is a photo
and 1 more of the same.
Has anyone ever seen anything like this ever? P. Constance Elliot is just a white version of P. Caerulea as I understand it but I have the "Hardy Blue" P. Caerulea I left out and its gone. It has so much freeze damage, it has literally wilted away to the point of being invisible.
I can't wait until Spring to see if they come back!
JD
I have a P. caerulea that is still putting out growth after 22 degrees F. It is a bit warmer than the P. incarnata that is beginning to look beaten. I am going ot try a bunch more hardy and rumoured hardy Pas. next spring, Including P. cae. 'C. Elliot'
Perhaps your 'Hardy Blue' is either a not-so hardy-leaved strain, or really some other similar-looking species.
Tell us how it goes nxt spring, JD.
K. James
I'll keep you posted.
My P. Incarnata is always one of the first to go limp when it gets cold which is suprising since it's the only 1 that returns every spring. Incarnata has spread so thick and far that I may have to start killing it back next summer. The 1 plant I put in the ground some 5 years ago is now growing in dozens of spots as far as 75 feet away from the original plant and I think it's going to be spread much more this up coming season. A couple squirrels have taken a liking to the fruit and lord only knows how far apart they've planted them. LOL It will be very interesting for sure!
JD
I keep hearing horror stories... I must be nuts enough to think it is a blessing and consider the runners (P. incarnata) to be convenient divisions.
Unsuspecting visitor: "Wow, what is that?"
Me: "A Hardy Passionflower. Would you like one?"
"Well, Yeah! If you're sure you don't want it."
"Oh, it's okay."
"Why thank you. How generous."
(Me thinking: "You have no idea.")
Ah, vines.
K. James