Congrats and Welcome!!!
Please bare in mind this IS NOT a rehab center..We are ALL enablers...LOL!!Sooo what Passi did you get..?? that will make a difference on the type of care required.. I also am a Z7.. ..Watch yourself these pretties are Very addictive...
Blessings
Chena

You'll be looking for more varieties in no time. There are so many different colors, shapes and sizes. It will grow over 5 feet in a short time but you can train it back onto the trellis. I wouldn't trim it because you might reduce the number of blooms. Most can take a good deal of sun and heat but there are a number of varieties that like cool humid conditions. I'm no expert and only have about 20 different passies but it seems like the reds, purples, blues and whites can take a good deal of heat and sun. Most of my pink passies like it cooler and my yellows like shade. I'm sure that doesn't hold true for all varieties but that's what I've found with the ones I have. Depending on the variety you might need to winter it over inside. Very few passies can withstand zone 7 winters. Warm brick and a heavy mulch just won't cut it. I'm in 7a, near DC and I winter over all my passies indoors, even the hardy varieties. They winter over inside very well and you can cut them way back so they don't take up much room. Do you have any idea what variety you purchased? If not can you post a pic?
Karyn

I'm not sure what type she is. (And, as a pretty good gardener, I cannot tell you how embarrassing it is for me to admit that!) Based on the pictures I've seen, she's either an incarnata or caerulea.

I've looked at many pictures and have difficulty distinguishing the incarnata from the caerulea. Suggestions?

Ciao,
OITGAD

The foliage and flowers are different. They both have multilobed leaves but the caerulea has much thinner leaves. The stems on my caeruleas are also thinner. The caerulea has white & blue blooms. The incarnata blooms are more of a purple, bigger and the corona has longer filaments. Both are supposed to be cold hardy. I've always wintered my caerulea over inside. I'm going to leave some of the incarnata in the ground this year.
Karyn

P. incarnata is hardy here in my Z7 .My sister also grows this and she lives in Ks where sometimes the have snow and ice on the ground for weeks at a time.. Altho being in a pot may make a difference. If you choose to leave it out you can just take plenty of cuttings..msbatt has a brilliant way to to start cuttings with flora foam. I gave it a try and had a CE root in less than 2 weeks..and it takes up very little space..
Thanks msbatt for sharing your seceret..
Chena

Caerulea has slender, five-lobed leaves. Incarnata leaves are much thicker and broader, generally three-lobed. Incarnata flowers often have curvy coronal filaments. It's really difficult to get these two confused. Might you be mixing up incarnata and it's popular hybrid, Incense? Those two are very similar except for flowers (Incense are huge, deep violet and very sweetly scented). Myles Irvine has a good explanation of how to tell them apart at his site, Passion Flow.

Here is a link that might be useful: Passion Flow