I forgot--I've read that the fruit is edible. Has anyone eaten it--is it worth eating?

I'd love to get one of these, but I'd keep it inside if I did. In south Louisiana I think the heat and humidity would kill it. My Ulmer and MacDougal book states it is found in Venezuela at altitudes of 7500 feet. Additionally, it cannot tolerate full sun or temps above 85 degrees. It apparently likes a daily temp range of about 50 to 70 degrees, and sets most of its buds when the days are getting longer in the spring. The only way I could approximate those conditions would be to keep it inside for most of the year. If you have any cutting material to spare (now or in the future), I'd love to make a trade.

Mark

I just LOVE the long peduncle on this one, but like Mark, it's too hot in south Mississippi for me to grow it.
I ordered and grew P. 'Anastasia' for a while - I had thought that being the child of P. gritensis and P. caerulea 'Constance Eliott' it might inherit weather hardiness from 'Constance' - it got the peduncle from P. gritensis, but it didn't come back the first spring after I planted it. Here's a picture -
{{gwi:447856}}
Sherry

Mark,

It sounds like maybe it should be grown like a Tacsonia--perhaps a shade-loving one. So I think you're right about it not being too happy with Louisiana summers.

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Of course I'm curious whether our climate is appropriate. Our average temp is in fact roughly 70/50 averaged over the year--about 60/40 in the winter and 80/55 in the summer. Probably those numbers are OK and it's the rare extremes that could be a problem.

Perhaps a comparison could be made with P. antioquiensis--another shade loving cool grower that has a reputation for being difficult. I was also under the impression that temps over 85 would seriously damage it or kill it.

A friend gave me a P. antioquiensis seedling and I put it in the ground about a month ago. A week later a heat wave hit. We've had a lot more hot weather since then.

Here are our highs/lows starting about a week after the plant went in the ground (August 26):

80/58
91/56
102/60
98/63
73/60
73/58
82/58
92/61
91/59
75/56
76/51
77/54
78/53
80/50
79/52
93/54
90/65
71/60
76/60
74/56
80/53

So more or less perfect cool grower weather interspersed with 3 heat waves. A full 1/3 of the days were 90+, the other 2/3 between 71 and 82. We've had really bizarre weather this summer.

Based on everything I've read, I would assume that my P. antioquiensis--remember this was just planted--should be either dead or barely alive.

Here are pictures at day 0 (80 degrees) day 2 (102 degrees) and today (day 21, not on the list, but it hit 78).

The plant grew significantly during the first heatwave and appears to have roughly doubled in size over the three week period. It looks awfully happy to me, although the temps could certainly have interfered with blooming in a mature plant--who knows?

Bottom line is that I'm always skeptical when I hear reports that Passiflora can't handle hot temps, at least when it applies to us. No doubt our cool nights help immensely.

Mark,

102 and 60? Wow, that is quite a range! Your temps actually sound very good for gritensis. If you grew it in a pot, you could take it indoors during those rare? heatwaves or cold snaps. I think humidity plays a role also. In south Louisiana the humidity is often 80% or higher in the summer--stiffling. Makes our short fall and spring seasons worth waiting for.

Sherry,

I have an Anastasia plant that has come through its third summer. It looked very unhappy during its first summer, but has always perked up and put out a small number of flowers in the fall. It is finicky though, and will drop its buds readily if we get a cold snap (not even a freeze, just significantly cooler than the preceding day). The trick is to get it through its first year.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Yeah, if it weren't for about 10 days in the summer and 5 nights/mornings in the winter we would be perfect for cool growers. This summer has had an amazing number of hot days, and they are predicting more 100 degree weather next week. Unfortunatley I have far too many cool growers to move them when it gets hot. I do move some things to the garage in the winter on those times we get frosts, but that's less of a hastle then moving them in the house when it's hot.

We tend to get a cold night/morning here and there instead of a real cold snap. It's nothing like the big cold fronts that hit the Eastern 2/3 of the country. Nights in the mid 30s are very common and are considered "normal". A few degrees below that and plants die.