It's bad. I lost at least 80% of my passiflora collection and about 70% of my overall tropical collection. Three days without power and single digit temps over New Year's did most everything in. I don't have a generator for the back yard greenhouse where I had most of my tender plants, just the farm and that was too far away to try and transfer plants to. Not a good winter.

Ouch! My sympathies, Karyn! I know Ethan lost almost his entire collection from a power outage a couple years ago, so there are folks around who share your pain. I have trouble enough keeping my plants alive and healthy even under ideal conditions...

Give me a shout when the weather warms up and we'll try to get you back up and running again. I don't know how much I've got that you'd want, but I might still have some stuff you traded to me in years past. The brain gets fuzzy on what came from whom. :-)

Hey guys,

Sorry Karyn for your loss. If anyone needs cuttings, let me know. (view my trade list)
Of all my passies, only 4 were in the ground. I think I lost my Vitifolia and L.Margaret. It is sad because I traded quite a few rooted cuttings of my vitifolia last year, but I didn't save any for myself, lol.
The rest of my passies were in pots and I brought them inside during the freezes. We haven't had such freezes here for many years.
Good luck to you all!

karyn, if you need any passie cuttings just email me. I also have a rooted p alata you can have if you need it. Let me know which ones you are looking for I might be able to help.
~Lenette

Lynette I sent you an email through GW.
Thanks

i lost all of mine, we got all of the one's that were fragrant and edible. and they were finally growing this past summer, YAY!!! so i was hoping that this summer we'd get something from them. but ohhhh no!! the winter took them. :'( although i think my edulis will pop back up this year. i don't know if its edible or not though. its just pretty!! LOL
does anyone know if there's any chance of the roots surviving?? by any chance?? i know i'm hoping!!! LOL ~Medo

Edulis fruit is one that you see in the store most often. It's not cold hardy and won't come back. Incarnata, caerulea and incense are cold hardy but I'm not sure if they'll come back in a zone colder then 6.

medontdo,

Karyn's right about P. edulis, of course. It will die in the mid 20s or so. However, I suppose this is one case where you could hope your plant was mislabeled. Did the flowers actually look like P. edulis?

The reason I ask is that I've seen so many things online that pretend to be P. edulis (i.e. it actually looks like they know what they're selling and they are trying to fool people). I quickly found one of the Ebay auctions I've seen in the past. It's for an item titled:

"PASSIFLORA INCARNATA-P.EDULIS-PASSION FLOWER VINE SEEDS"

The description begins:

"PASSIFLORA INCARNATA

P. EDULIS var.

PASSION FLOWER VINE - MAYPOP VINE

20 SEEDS

This passion flower vine is much sought after for its attractive fragrant large exotic 3-4 inch blooms. In sunny locations Passiflora Incarnata produces greenish yellow fruit which is edible to eat or sometimes juice is made from the fruit."

In many other cases, a plant is described as P.edulis and pictures of P. 'Lavender Lady'/'Amethyst' and P. belotii (P. alatocaerulea), etc. are shown. Is it a fake picture of the flower, or is it something other than edulis?

So I hope--in this one case--that your plant was mislabeled. I did a search and it looks like people claim P. incarnata (maypop) is hardy to either zone 5 or 6 (even Logee's says 5, which surprises me as I thought they were overly conservative). So no doubt you can find threads discussing this (also maybe for P. caerulea) and I take it it boils down to all of those things which affect whether any plant will make it in a cold climate--and which I've never dealt with.

Another possibility if you really want to grow Passionflowers outside as perennials is P. lutea--it's supposed to be the hardiest and is a N. American native. The fact that I've heard little about it suggests to me that maybe it's not as showy, but I could be wrong. (I just checked--flowers less than 1 inch, native to as farth North as Illinois, including Kansas).

Finally, many people of course bring their plants inside for the winter (I'm lucky enough just to have to move a few things around a couple nights a year). No doubt there are threads about which ones are best for this. Personally, I would not be opposed to someone starting such a thread again even if it's been done before--since there's no FAQ that addresses this and this must be one of the most common questions out there, a little repetition isn't unreasonable in my opinion.

There may be species/hybrids where one can combine the indoor/outdoor approach by letting a milder frost kill off the top, so that the plant can be brought inside without taking up prime window space or needing lights (important even to those of us in warmer climates). Again, I'm not a good one to answer this.

Good luck!

Lutea is a decaloba type, with small, unobtrusive flowers, which is why it's not a popular plant with passiflora enthusiasts. It sometimes come with varigrated foliage, but overall it's generally a small plant. P. affinis is a very close relative of lutea, and produces a much larger plant, but unfortunately doesn't have near the cold tolerance.

i had a lutea also, the edulis and carula i believe i got from karyn. ohhh the amythist i didn't get to grow. **sigh** it was me though. LOL the other one's i got from rare seeds.com i went for the red and i think blue ones i know red! LOL i had to get fragrance for me, edible for the kiddo's!! LOL gotta feed the kids!! **big smile** i remember that they said they tasted good!! LOL

medontdo,
I'll be beginning cuttings of amethyst in about a week. Keep looking at "My page" and check my trade list. I'll be adding adding and would be happy to help. Everyone here has been so polite and helpful to me, i'd be glad to return the favor. :)

Nicci

pollywogsworldoffrogs.com
ginodiavonti.com

All of them. I think every passionvine on the island died. I haven't found a single living one anywhere. But it wasn't winter that did us in, it was Hurricane Ike. We had 4' of standing saltwater in our yard for at least 24 hours. My incense was covering the pecan tree, which also took a beating-tree guy coming next week & it will probably be cut down. There was an average of 14' storm surge here. Though my friends in Bolivar had it worse, she not only lost the passion vines but the front yard is g-o-n-e!
Between my mother & I we had 14 varieties. EVERYTHING in her yard died except the chalice vine. I replanted Lady margaret, incense, an unknown that produces an edible red fruit and an unknown purple from a plant trade.
So we're digging a new pond, re-doing the beds, making walkways and planting like crazy.
Tally HO!

I lost P. edulis "frederick", P. "Byron's Beauty", P. Vitifolia, and P. membranacea...all were killed in the same cold snap when my yard went to 27 degrees ( but no lower) and stayed there for 6 hours....total of 12-13 below freezing. Interestingly enough, I have had p. edulis and p. vitifolia "shrug off" 23 degrees before, but total hours below freezing were only around 6-7 hours.

Your Byron's Beauty should come back from the roots, as it is root hardy to at least a zone 8 winter. I lost my Byron's Beauty due to root rot indoors-probably because my basement is too cold (mid-40's F to mid-50's) during mid-winter. Everything outside is still dormant, so I won't know what survived (likely everything) until mid-May at the earliest.