"Dave Poole" wrote in message
...
Matthew Durkin wrote:

I'm hoping to get hold of a mollisima to attempt to grow outdoors. I seem
to
experience very mild conditions in my back garden. I think this is
because
it's a very small garden with fences either side (terrace house) so it is
very shielded from the wind. All my fancy fuschias survived last year and
are starting to flower again now! I live in St Albans (Herts) so should
don't get particularly mild weather.

As much as I hate to dampen enthusiasm about growing more unusual
plants out of doors, I fear that St Albans is too cold for Passiflora
mollissima. The problem with attempting to grow any 'tender' species
permanently out of doors is not so much that of coping with ultimate
low temperatures, but more to do with their ability to survive
prolonged low temperatures. Many tropical plants can survive an
occasional drop to minus 3C for an hour or so and remain miraculously
untouched. As a result, tables created to indicate a plant's cold
tolerance will probably show survival at minus 3C. moderate damage at
minus 5C, severe damage at minus 6C and death at minus 7C. The
unwary, looking at such tables can be forgiven for thinking ;

"Aha, we rarely see minus 5C here and I don't mind a few damaged
leaves in winter. I'll give it a go."

They then become perplexed that a mild winter where temps remain above
minus 3C all of the time, still kills the plant. The answer lies in
duration of cold, the amount of atmospheric and soil moisture,
together with ensuing daytime temperatures. The latter are
exceptionally important. In regions where the plant survives a brief
cold spell, the daytime high invariably rises quite dramatically and
often peaks well above 15C or more. This is enough to counter an
hour's exposure to minus 3, 4 or 5C. Also, when spring arrives
properly, temperatures invariably peak close to 30C and gradually
increase to reach summer-time highs well over 36C on an almost daily
basis.

In the UK, with few exceptions, a low of minus 3C remains for several
to many hours - often throughout the night. The amount of time below
0C extends upwards to around 12 hours or more. This, followed by
daytime temperatures that struggle to reach 5 or 6C. results in
fatally cold conditions. Add to this typically British winter wet and
you have a recipe for disaster. Spring-time temps in the UK are cool,
very cool or cold. They cannot compare with continental highs for the
same time of year and cold-shocked plants that are barely hanging on,
rarely survive the wait for temps to regularly peak above 21C.

Some sub-tropical plants have remarkable powers of survival through
regeneration and a preference for coolish growing conditions. All
Fuchsias fall into this category and there is good reason to presume
that Fuchsias originally evolved as relatively cold hardy shrubs close
to the South Pole. They became sub-tropical as the climate warmed due
to the northward migration of South America many millions of years
ago. Quite a few palms native to southern Brazil, Argentina and
Chile are also able to withstand UK winters remarkably well and
current thinking is that they may have also evolved much further south
originally. Large flowered, decorative hybrid Fuchsias have complex
parentages, almost all containing some genes of the more cold-hardy
species. That they survive a mild winter is not expecially unusual
and should not be taken as an indicator that other non-related species
are also likely to survive.

Getting back to Passiflora mollissima - I've tried it here with
varying and modest degrees of success. In most years there is
moderate damage and some die-back - and that is on a plant growing
against a warm south facing wall. Here, it rarely drops below minus
2C in winter and it is a very cold spate of weather for temperatures
not to rise to 12C by day. In coastal far south-west regions, winter
night time lows rarely go much below 0C and if they do, it is often
only during the coldest period just before sunrise. As soon as it
gets light, temperatures rise quickly and the total period below 0C is
probably no more than 2 hours at the very most. The difference
between here and St Albans for example, is not that the lows are that
much higher here, but that it remains warmer here for much longer.

Don't suppose you know where I could buy (maybe mail order) a nice
mollisima.

Reads Nurseries do a fair range and I believe also do mail order.
Nice plants and not overly expensive.

http://www.readsnursery.co.uk

BIG PLUG
Ray & Sacha's Nursery do exceptionally fine mollissimas at
exceptionally reasonable prices, but sadly do not do mail order
/BIG PLUG

My attempt at getting passiflora to grow from seed has not been a
massive success.

The seeds are very hard shelled and should be soaked in tepid water
for 24-48 hours. Sow in sealed bags or pots of lightly moist perlite
and maintain at around 28 - 30C or higher. Inspect regularly after 10
days and pot up seedlings as soon as they produce their seed leaves.
Keep them at around 25C and in good light until growing strongly and
gradually reduce temperatures. High summer is probably the best time
to sow, since you can often persuade a propagator to heat up beyond
its normal range by placing it closed-up in a sunny spot.

If you can improve your success rate with seed, you would be in a much
better position to experiment. Its a lot less worrying to plant out
one of several home-raised plants, than a treasured specimen that may
have cost over 10 quid. Best of luck


Hi Dave,
I cannot thank you enough for the advice! I will probably have another go
with the seeds as I really wanted to try growing a few in the house - and
maybe one for my office - round a hoop. I also wondered whether it's
possible to get them to grow as a standard of any kind - do you know? I've
read about them being grafted for commercial fruit production, but not for
garden use, or as a standard.
Incidentally, my interest in passiflora started after I went to a wedding in
the South Spanish hillside where the 'trunk' on a passiflora there was a
couple of feet wide. The plant had completely covered a massive pergola,
around 15 metres long and a couple wide. It was full of flower and I had
never (and have never since) seen anything quite like it. Unbelievably, I
failed to take a picture of this marvellous plant.

I also can't say how excited I am by finding Epiphyllum on the Reads
Nurseries site. Many years ago I bought such a plant from a church fair,
little knowing what a spectacular surprise I would have that summer! I have
wondered what they are ever since. I think I'll be dusting my wallet out
soon!

Thanks again,
Matthew