I bought my first Passion Flower vine at the Butterfly, Herbs & Native Plant Fair at the University of South Florida Botanical Garden this weekend. The vendor I bought it from insisted that Butterflies only liked the Blue Passionflower (passiflora caerulea), which I bought. After I got home I did a little research on the Web and there were sites that implied the Maypop (passiflora incarnata) and Red Passionflower (passiflora coccinea) were as good, if not better, at attracting butterflies.
Is this a case where all of the members of the passiflora genus are good butterfly attractors or are there certain species within passiflora that are better?
Help with Passion Flowers Vines
bsewall,
How cool! I was there as well...The vendor was right that Butterflies in FL really like the P. caerulea but they do also like P. incarnata (Maypop)
Those 2 vines are good for the Fritts . The Zebra's like P. suberosa or corky stemmed passion vine. Thoese are the only ones that I can guarantee from experience. They don't like the red passionvine, though.
Adrienne
This message was edited Jun 12, 2007 4:56 PM
It appears that the butterfly/cats do NOT like all cultivars of the Passiflora genus. Maypop (passiflora incarnata) is the most commonly used one by many Passiflora loving butterflies as a host plant. Most red blooming ones are NOT host plants. Be careful. The only one that I know of that does get used by them is "Lady Margaret". Another DGer here had it and the Gulf Fritillaries were using it as a host plant. There are many native cultivars that are favorites of butterflies/caterpillars as well. Just check before you spend your hard earned money on a Passiflora vine.
Thanks for the advice. It looks like I did not go that far wrong in buying the Blue Passion Flower.