Jack wrote:

My passionflower seems to have suffering the same fate as yours. I cut it
right back as it had suffered from the Februrary frosts (it was doing fine
until then). Anyway, yesterday I dug it out and potted it up in the hope it
might come back. But I've planted a new one in its place, as I don't hold
out much hope. If any new growth appears I'll keep you posted.







"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
JennyC wrote:
"Victor West" wrote in message
...

We have a passion flower at the end of our garden on a south facing
wall. It
has been there for a couple of years. Until recently it was growing
on a 10
foot long trellis. As it was getting quite overgrown we decided to
install
some wiring on the wall in order for it to grow further out.
However, the
passion flower appears to have dried out slightly and is looking
slightly
withered. Is this normal? I thought the reason may be that the plant
is
getting more air circulating around it. Any comments would be
appreciated.

The top growth has probably been caught by frost.

Test to see if the plant is still alive by carefully scraping the stem
near the roots with your thumbnail. If its green its alive - brown
means its probably dead :~(

If its still alive, wait a bit and then prune out the dead top growth.

Mine is similar. Most passion flowers are severely tropical, and
will not survive either frost or being cut back hard. P. caerulea
is the only one that can take most UK winters (the two even hardier,
herbaceous ones, P. lutea and P. incarnata, can't take the wet).
P. caerulea will also grow herbaceously when established.

So the key is not to do ANYTHING until the weather warms up. If it
reshoots, do what Jenny says. If it doesn't, cut it back to the
ground and it will probably resprout from its roots. But it may well
not do so until high summer.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.


I concur with Nick.

Wait until at least May/June before giving up.. The other thing you
can do is protect roots from excessive wet and frost with a good thick
mulch. P. caerulea is listed by ART http://www.agroforesty.co.uk as
being hardey to -20 C but in my experience it really doesn't start
growing until established. Cutting back old or frosted growthtoo early
may be a mistake as it will provide some small protection if left in
situ.
//
Jim
North London, England, UK