I'd like to grow passion flower this year for the fritallary cats. Is it a bulb or a plant and where would be the best place to get it? Thanks!
- Donya
Passion Flower
It is a plant. I got mine from a garden shop here in Midland. I tried growing it from seed but it never sprouted. It have it all over my back fence and wherever a flower lands it grows there the next year!
that sounds great...we have tons of fritillarys here and I want to keep them happy! I'm going to try my hand at raising bflys this year. I'm so excited for spring!!
Passion flowers are beautiful and they also smell great. They die down to the ground in this area, but they are root hardy and come back in the spring. They do like warm weather, so they won't sprout back up until it gets good and warm maybe late April.
I could root a cutting for you, but I can't do it until it comes back up, so if you are in need of getting it sooner, you can probably find one in your local area.
Josephine.
I think we are all anxious for spring and warmer weather. Just because the sun is out doesn't mean that spring is here. One of these days it will get warm and then hot and then you will wonder why you ever doubted that you are in Texas where it gets HOT!
Ann
There is all kind of passionflower vines. I have several that the Gulf Fritillaries use (and on occasion other butterflies). One is the cold-hardy Blue Passionflower, Passiflora caerulea. That one is so cold-hardy that it's planted in the ground and even after this winter it still has lots of foliage from last fall. The Corona de Cristo and Maypop are trying to come back up now. And there's another one that I can't seem to remember what it's called. But it's probably best to avoid those red passifloras if you want the butterflies. Most passifloras of that color cannot be used by the butterfly caterpillars.
A few weeks a go I bought a P. Alata, Lavender Lady, I hope that I will have a bunch of frits on it. Linda, do you have this one? I was wondering if I should keep it in a pot, I don't want it all over the place or the neighbors, I like having a good relationship with them lol.
I purchased a red passiflora last year. At the store, it had a huge frit. on it....the biggest I've ever seen. A lady there said the vine could poison it and she picked it off. This particular passiflora has never produced a single flower....bummer. I'm thinking of digging it up.
My purple passiflora had so many frits on it that the entire vine was devoured in three days. It has come back a little over the winter and I'm already seeing the cats on it.
wow, that's great - if it was eaten in three days, I probably shouldn't start with a cutting or seeds. I probably need to buy a mature plant. I'm going to put a few mud puddles in the garden this year too. I'm really excited about how many more we'll get this year. Last year it was YST, BST and GF everywhere! And I didn't have any of the cat host plants so I'm not sure where they came from. I had a ton of nectar plants though. They loved my firecracker cuphea...so did the hummers!
I don't have it, fly_girl, but I have heard that it's supposed to be pretty well-mannered, not putting out those root suckers.
greenie, I think I'm going to have to have a healthy supply of the passies to keep the babies fed. It started of with 2 cats last spring......by the end of summer, it was impossible to count how many we had on the vine and impossible to keep them all fed! Unfortunately, I had planted it on my trellis by the front door. Not a pretty sight to walk up to. I'm going to transplant it to the back yard and buy at least 5 more to keep them well fed. It's wonderful to see all of the butterflies and watch them lay their eggs.
All this about having "worms" on your passies and to think I only raise the passies for the vines and flowers and the incidental cat. hehe
Ann
It's a weird mindshift for me too - I'll have to remind myself not to be mad when there's nothing left of my plant!! =)
ok Linda... you have to save some of that cold hardy one for me.
I started some from seed in the greenhouse. The seedling looks like this.
Girls, you won't believe this, but I gave one to a friend last year, and it grew just great for her, she later told me,
" You would not believe all the worms that got on it, I killed them all, or the plant would have disappeared "
of course she didn't know they were butterflies.
So yes, it is all a matter of perception.
Okay, I'll see if I can get some of that for you, Nada. I don't get any passies that can't survive the winter here, that one keeps its foliage and the others come back in spring. We just had 25° the night before last. But things are starting to look more like spring now, little by little it's getting there.
I have three daffidils flowers and about a doz alluims that only have the bases yet. My zebra grass and lemon grass have some small shoots near the ground and one of my rose bushes has some new leaves and one purple hycinth is up.. That's about it for my place, the rest is brown.
Josephine..I learned my lesson the hard way, just like your friend. I was moving the caterpillars out into the pasture not realizing that my passie was their food souurce. When I found out (only minutes later), I went back out and found them and replaced them. I'll do all I can to keep those pretty butterflies coming.
That was a very good thing you did Knolan, rescuing the caterpillars, but you can't blame someone who doesn't know, she did better the following year.
Would you all be surprised to know that there are actually people who find the cats "horrible" and destroying of their beautiful vines and flowers? There are plenty. They hate the thought that "worms" are eating their beautiful plants and will do anything to get rid of them. No kidding!
Ann
I do believe it. I know a lot of people who just don't care about the cats. The flowers and plants are much more important to them. In fact, most people I know are that way, a lot of my family included. I'm slowly trying to change their minds but it's an uphill battle.
I just came in from building a new flowerbed in the back yard...and noticed lots of passion vine suckers coming up everywhere...lol. They seem to be coming up behind the fence in the neighbors yard as well...lol. AND in the cow pasture behind the other fence...lol! Sooo pretty tho when they bloom.... :)
Melanie
I'll take 'em!
ME TOO!! I just found out I will have near ZERO garden budget this year. I'm heartbroken. =(
Oh no, greenie! I can send you some seeds and cuttings. What a bummer!
That would be really helpful, thank you! I was planning on doubling the size of my garden this year too and wanted to add a lot more native plants and plants just for bflys and cats. I did have a lot of milkweed seeds from Sheila and I have about 30 2-inch milkweed plants now. I also planted parsley seeds and some other herbs for the swallowtails so they're taken care of. I just wanted several PFs for the GFs. I'm sure it will all work out...we just had a very large and very unexpected expense come up...in the tens of thousands. Keep us in your prayers and feel free to send anything this way. I was able to overwinter a lot in the greenhouse and would be happy to send cuttings I have in return.
Renatelynn, your hyacinth is just now blooming? What kind do you have? Mine are almost through blooming.
Greenie, I have a cold hardy White PF that had Gulfs on it last year. I will see about getting some cuttings started if I can't find any runners. Will have to get the DH to help, since I am down in my back again, just as Spring is gearing up!!! Bummer!! I will let you know this next weekend for sure, if not before.
Thank you Sheila and btw, your milkweed seeds are sprouting beautifully!! I've had to separate them into their own containers which has been a challenge since I decided to plant all of them!! =)
greenie....you should try and make some plant swaps in your area...or the big one coming up in College Station. Swaps are a great way to give and receive seeds and plants...esp. for those on a limited budget, like myself. :) Plus, they are a great way to meet the folks that you see here on Dave's.
I ended up getting a ton of plants at the San Antonio swap! :)
Melanie
Greenie, I'll go through my seeds and send you a dmail. I can send you some cuttings in a month or two, after everything starts to take off. I'd be so bummed if I couldn't get some new things planted.
I agree with TxTurquize, participate in a swap near you. Everyone is so generous.
I got a lot from the Dallas swap even though I wasn't actually able to be there at the last minute (business trip). Josephine (isn't she awesome??) was generous enough to take my plants to the swap and get mine for me. A lot of them are still going strong but I did lose some b/c my MIL didn't water them in Oct (Nov?) for over a week while we were on a business trip (we live with her) when the weather was very warm. She's very depressed and even though she promised, many of them were obviously dead from no water. My DH is trying to figure out how to install a sprinkler system that he can make inside the greenhouse that we can put on a timer. We're gone usually a week out of every month which is brutal for my babies in very warm weather. So if I can figure out how to keep them watered while we're gone, I'll try and get to every plant swap that I can!!
Donya, you might even organize a swap for East Texas, I don't think there has been one in that area yet, and i bet a lot of people would be happy to attend one where they wouldn't have to travel too far.
You could go to this page on Dave's http://davesgarden.com/extras.php and click on the line that says
Find other members in your area, and you will find plenty of people who are close to you, then you can dmail them, and see if you can get it going.
Of course we still want you to come to our swap in the Fall.
Josephine.
I' m out begging. Nothing to swap but I'm planning on being at the Apr 28 RU in CS and I really, really would appreciate a rooted start of passion flower vine - something that's not fussy, has flowers and frits. What can I offer in return?
Ann
I have LOADS (and I mean LOADS) of max. sunflower seed (I haven't even taken the seed off 1/2 of them yet and I have a gallon bag full of seed. Butterflies loved mine last year. If someone can't make the RU.. send me a SASE and I will send you some.
Ann....if you go over to the trades thread for the RU, kipper I think is offering white native passionvine. It is invasive so put it where you don't want anything else, but it is hardy here I believe. I got some in the fall that I will putting on my back fence.
Kim
Thx, Kim. Whatever I plant can be invasive in certain spots in my back yard. You would not believe the view out my back door: It looks like the Toonerville Trolley gone berserk and it's just their "chimney" from their fireplace. Anything I can put out there to detract from that view is fine w/me. Right now I have 12' tall brown tropical hibiscus which I am hoping will come back - all 8 or so of them.
Ann
Ann, I'm trying my hand at passionflower cuttings. If it works, I should have some fr you in May. ;>}
Kristi
Many thanks Kristi!! :>))
Ann