Passiflora mollisima - when to sow seed?

I'm going to try my hand at a slightly different passionflower - Passiflora mollisima. Does anyone have any experience of growing this one? Only Passiflora caerulea is considered hardy enough to grow outdoors in the British Isles so it's a bit of a gamble. Does anybody know if it should be started from seed now and overwintered in a warm greenhouse or should it be sown in late winter/early spring? The growing season is a bit limited in Ireland. We have frosts right up till May so I'm worried that it might not have a long enough season to get it to flowering size.
Rosie :-))

Rosie, I sowed mine in february indoors and by may was able to pot them up and set them outside. I am sure my growing conditions are much different than yours, but they germinated very easily indoors for me. I soaked them for about 3 days in orange juice and then rinsed them and started them in ziplock baggies with potting soil and set them on a heat mat under flourescent lights. i had germination in about 2 weeks. I hope that is helpful. Linda

Thanks bart. I had to smile when I read to soak them in orange juice - never had to do that before with any other seed. I will sow them when I sow my bush tomatoes - If I'm as careful with them as I am with my toms they should be OK :-))
Rosie

Rosie, I had never soaked them in anything but water until this year. I read though that the acids in the fruit juice help to break down the germination inhibitors and make germination easier. It didn't work on some seeds like p. cinnabarina, or p. seemanni, but it did work on the mollissima. I am sure you could use any type of high acid citrus juice.
Somebody recommended ethanol cider to me, but I am relatively new at this and had no clue what that was. Then I felt really dumb when I learned it was fermented apple cider. LOL.

Linda I thought ethinol was a type of chemical fuel LOL - but then perhaps the cider has that effect!
:-)) Rosie

Rosie, I am happy to know I am not alone. LOL What other types of passies are you growing? Do your agricultural restrictions in Ireland prohibit trading?
Linda

I can only grow P. caerulea outside Linda and it survives the winter - just. I bought the one Ive got now in a sale at the end of last summer season and kept it pot bound for the first winter which minimised the effects of the very wet winter we had - well, thats my excuse, truth be told I completely forgot about it LOL. Anyway it survived the winter and I put it in a pot about four times larger than the one I bought it in and its put on a good display - considering the weather - about twelve flowers so far and still loads of buds ready to open. Its still growing and is about 7 feet tall so far. I've grown P. caerulea from seed before and wintered them outside with no problem. In Wales where I gardened a few years before coming to Ireland - they grow massive and the weather is definatly no better than here.
I've just inherited this garden - my SILs garden really and because she doesn't do too much I get to "suggest" things. Actually I have free range. I'm interested in growing more types of this beautiful flowering plant but wonder if I can get them to flower with such a short season. Thats why I'm taking my time, reading up on it a bit and only choosing types I think have a fair chance of pulling it off - even if I have to grow them as annuals. I won't be getting any more seeds till next spring but if you can think of any that might suit please let me know.
There's no restriction on seed just bulbs,tubers and potatoes and I get them from all over the place . Just got a load of seed from Van Housen garden is Canada but what a price!! Just because I "neeeeeeded" asphodeline lutea - believe its a weed in California lol.

Rosie,
Here p. incarnata is a native variety wildflower. I love it. We call them maypops. I started collecting varieties a couple of years ago. I have a very long growing season with a first frost sometime between Thanksgiving ( End of november) and Christmas and the last frost usually in mid-late march. Even then our winters are very mild.
I am sure if you can grow caerulea then you can grow incarnata and probably alata also. I have some seeds I can share, and I am not familiar with Van Housen, but I have bought seeds from www.rarexoticseeds.com. They have a great variety and are very reasonable.
If you can get cuttings through the mail, I can send some p. incarnata and maybe some others. Linda

I got my mollisima seed from http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/SeedOrders/index1.html
Thanks so much for your offer of cuttings, it's really kind of you. I'm just a little worried that they would take so long to arrive they would be shrivelled up. We haven't had such bad winters for 5 or six years at least - must be global warming. Just a few flakes of snow and the odd frost or three LOL. When I first moved to Wales, round 23 years ago, the weather was bitter and the well froze in January and stayed frozen for a good few weeks. ( I had a smallholding up the side of a mountain there). Ireland has a climate very similar to Wales - wet and grey and some very biteing winds which makes it feel colder - apart from the fact that water tend to hang about here. In Wales it mostly runs off the hills into the valleys LOL.
I'd love either some seed or some cuttings if you can spare them Linda and hopefully they would be OK in the post. I just hope you will take a rain check on any plants I can give you because I won't be able to return the favour till this time next year. It would be great to be able to tell my SIL where I got these plants from.
Unfortunatly she tends to throw money at the garden and doesn't think about the care of plants. Makes me a bit cross. I tend to be more cautious and treasue the things I grow.
If you could send me some seed or a bit of your p. incarnata I would give it a go.
:-)) Rosie

Rosie, Send me your mailing address in a Dmail. I think you are right about the cuttings, they would probably not root by the time you received them. Not to worry, I do have some seeds I can share and I would be happy to send you some.
I understand about throwing money at the garden. It is a resort area here and they plant things for a single season, then rip them out and replant. It is great for the horticultural industry, but I want to go and rescue all of those poor little plants. LOL

Here we almost don't have a winter. March gets very cold winds sometimes, but in relation to other parts of the country not cold at all. Our summers are hot and humid and we are waiting now to see if tropical storm Hanna is going to turn and come our way, or head south into the Carribean.

Linda did you say that P. Alata is hardy outside? To what zone? I am growing 5-6 kinds of Passiflora this year and I just thought the P. Incarnata is hardy in Zone 6. I plan to bring all the others inside for the winter. Some have just gone nuts this year. I have P. foetida (Love in a Mist) and it has gotten huge and the blooms have been very impressive. Small but plentiful.

Dylangcg, My resources say it is hardy to zone 10, but I am in zone 8 right on the coast and mine returns from the roots. The caerulea and incarnata are the hardiest here, the incarnata is a native wildflower (weed in some cases). Which varieties are you growing?

As I said above I have
P. foetida var. 'India' with the pink flowers 4
P. Incarnata 1
Bat Wing Passiflora 3

I mixed up tags for some but I think I still have
Panama Red
Alata
'Black Beauty'
P. Maliformis
P. Lady Margaret - if I haven't killed them all.
Giant Passiflora

The only ones I know for sure are the 1st 3, I am waiting on the rest to bloom to see for sure which is which. The NOID are all getting really big and I plan to bring them indoors in a few days for the winter, we are supposed to be in the low 50s later this week. I started out with 10 seeds from each one and had really good germination. I lost several as seedlings because this was my first year and like most novices I didn't know what I was doing. I sold several and have about 16 at home still. The "Lady Margaret' did the worst for me, of course, since it is the one I wanted the most. I think I lost almost all of those unless one of the NOID surprises me. The LM just didn't take off, it sat there and withered away. The P. maliformis, I think every one germinated and they are not doing as well as the others but they are growing. The great big ones I am hoping are P. alata, most of them are in 4" pots, read neglect here, and they are about 4-10' long. I have done nothing to them but water, I never remember to fertilize them at all. The one I planted outside needs dug up and moved in but I am not sure where to put it for the winter. It has 8" dark green leaves and is about 25' long with several vines. I will probably just take a chance and dig it up anyway and move it in, it is so big and beautiful I hate to lose it. We have a very large bathroom with a skylight and I overwinter most of my plants in there. Guests come and open that door and are amazed to see all the greenery.

I purchased some more seeds to try of the Banana Passiflora and I traded for a couple different ones also but have not been able to find anymore Lady Margaret to trade for yet. Maybe with the new seed harvests coming on I can get some of those.

What varieties are you growing this year?

I attached a picture of one of my P. foetida vines, it did very well without fertilizer. I hope it is big enough for you to see it well.

Dylancgc, I started with alot of seeds this year, but these are the varieties I have right now:

p. caerulea blue crown
p. caerulea constance elliot
p. mollissima
p. alata
p. actinia
p. lavender lady
p. quadrangularis
p. incarnata

and some others that I bought on ebay that haven't taken off yet.....
p. Vitifolia
p. reflexiflora
p. fledermouse
Lady margaret

I also have a couple of noid's that came up in my recycle bucket. LOL (I have no clue which varieties those are)

The caterpillars have destroyed several of my biggest passies, Next year I will plant lots of dill and fennel for them and maybe they will not eat every stem of the passie.

I haven't had alot of trouble with the caterpillars, I had the darned grasshoppers eating mine. I have a couple of new kinds to start for next year.