How do you handle the Passion Vine in Fall/Winter? Does it die back? Do you prune it back? Do you cut it back hard to the ground? This is the first year I have grown this vine and have no idea what to do now!
Question about Passion Vine
Mine die back...except one. What kind of passionflower do you have? In 9B, you might not even have freezes, so they may just keep going.
I don't know which one I have, but the flowers look like the Passiflora sprucei. I also have Maypop. (I don't know what the difference is.) I have no idea what the flowers are going to look like but were told they would be purple. I was given some seeds from which they grew this year. I should get flowers next year on the Maypop.
We do get brief freezing temps here in zone 9B. But usually what happens is the heavy growth on most of my plants in my gardens just gets frost burn on the top part that is exposed. So in the spring I just cut them back hard. Many to the ground or about 6-8 inches from the ground. They come back pretty quick when the weather starts warming up.
I have heard that the flowers on the Passion vine grow from the new growth, so I am wondering if I need to cut the vine back in winter when the growth stops or slows down. I have quite a few starter vines growing on my two side fences in the backyard, so I need to try to keep them compact not sprawling. I don't know if that is possible or not. I also have coral vine, cross vine, honeysuckle, bleeding heart vine, and Mexican Flame Vine. All on different sections of the side fences. After planting them, I realized that maybe I shouldn't have planted so many so close along the fences. I didn't realize how much they spread. So it looks like I am going to have some intertwining very thick vines covering my fences. I can see they are all going to be running into each other. Which I hope will look okay.
Anyway, if I do need to cut them back how far back on the main stem do I cut them?
I have the maypop and also a vine with red flowers. I don't know the name of the red one, but it is beautiful. This is the third year they have been planted. The maypop did not die back completely. The red one did, but was slow to come back, however, it came back profuseley this year and has bloomed much more than the first two years. In the Spring, I cut the dead growth back to the ground.
They are covered with the gulf frits and I watch them laying eggs continuosley. Yesterday there must have been a hundred butterflies in my yard. Three different kinds.
What kind of Passion Vine is best to get, and is it climber. I built something to have vines climb up the back of my garden 8X8 I was going toput all kinds of things on it kinda let them just mix together is this not a good idea??
Jesse
I only have Maypop and Cross Vines but this is their first year so I don't know what will happen. My understanding is that they die back and then regrow in Spring. Becky, have you seen any butterflies on the Cross Vine? Karen
purplepetunia - Sounds like the vines do better if they are cut back hard. Especially since the blooms come from new growth, not old growth. I'm just not sure how far to cut it back? That's cool that you had that many butterflies in your yard. I only have about 10 different ones a day that frequent my yard. Or at least that's all I see when I am outside.
Jesse - If you want the Passionvine to attract butterflies I would go with the purple flowering ones. I hear that most (but not all) of the red flowering Passionvines don't attract butterflies. I don't know why. I assume that you can mix vines on a trellis. I have probably done that with my backyard fence and will see the results possibly next year when the different vines really start taking off in growth. This first year they were just trying to get established in their new home. But it will get heavy the more vines you have on a trellis. Hopefully it won't come crashing down from the weight. Some of the vines can be quite heavy. Ask your local nursery.
Karen - My cross vine hasn't bloomed as much as it probably will next year. It is spreading, but doesn't really bloom a lot unless it rains. It likes water. Which surprised me because I thought it was more drought tolerant. Hmmmm ...who knows?? But I have not seen any butterflies or bees on it. I bought it specifically for hummers. It's got some pretty tubular orange/with yellow throat flowers. I like it a lot!
Mine had a few flowers this year but should do better the second year.
Becky,
I'm sure your PV will come back really well. They always seem to, even here in my zone. The plant is created to be eaten down to the ground by GF and ZLW and a couple other BF use them as host. GFs devoured mine, and then it came back like gangbusters after I cut the vines down to about 6" from the dirt.
And like Linda said, I too would be surprised if it even died back at all where you are.
Deb
This is my second year with maypop. It died completely to the ground last winter. I wasn't sure it would be back but sure enough it popped up in may as promised. My vine came back and sent runners everwhere. I had hundreds of flowers and some fruit it hasn't died back yet. I'm actually a liitle worried about its invasiveness but I will take my chance. What a beautiful healthy vine covered in very unusual beautiful flowers.
Deb - Thanks for the info! I get freezing temps here in my zone, but for only a short period of time. I think you are right, because the GFs chewed one down almost to the ground but it is hanging in there and growing back. It was a young plant I grew from seed this past Spring. Has not died and is getting new leaves!
You know another vine that I am really starting to like is the Mexican Flame Vine (Senecio confusus). I call it my happy, sunshine vine! Also a starter plant this year. It has grown considerably and is blooming for the second time. I really like the flowers. They are in clusters and start out light orange, then change to dark orange, and then finally change to red. Beautiful!!! The neat thing about it that I have been noticing is that the butterflies, bees, etc. will land on a flower and feast on it for sometimes 15 minutes per bloom. Apparently it has lots of nectar and the insects don't mind parking it there for awhile. I just really like everything about this vine, including the leaves. Is it a native of Texas?
I don't think it is a Native Texas Plant, Becky... But it is a very beautiful plant your right about that!
Deb
Well I built a trellis for the Passion vine but the way ya are talking it takes a couple of seasons to really get going good is this right. Also I check a couple of places around here and they aren't going to be carrying them again till spring, I thought I should get them in the ground now so they will be there when spring comes around
childofgraceus - It depends upon the plants you are planting. Some grow and spread faster than others. I have found personally that by the end of the first season and definitely by the second season that the garden seems to take off!
Once it all starts growing, it seems to happen pretty quickly! :-)