Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
passiflora vitifolia
Hi All,
Last year I grew a passiflora vitifolia from seed. I only had one shoot out of a packet unfortunately. The plant is now about a foot tall and is starting to form side shoots. I'm now wondering how much cold this plant will take and if it would survive a UK winter. It has been outside now since spring so may already have had some light frosts - some of the leaves were burnt. Generally passiflora are said to not be hardy, but from what I've read, quite a few are perfectly happy outdoors in the UK. The 'maypops' variety more popular in the US is rarely sold as hardy, when in fact it's extremely hardy. So - has anyone had any experience of growing the vitifolia outdoors in the UK? Thanks, Matthew |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
passiflora vitifolia
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 09:04:30 GMT, "Matthew Durkin"
wrote: Hi All, Last year I grew a passiflora vitifolia from seed. I only had one shoot out of a packet unfortunately. The plant is now about a foot tall and is starting to form side shoots. I'm now wondering how much cold this plant will take and if it would survive a UK winter. It has been outside now since spring so may already have had some light frosts - some of the leaves were burnt. Generally passiflora are said to not be hardy, but from what I've read, quite a few are perfectly happy outdoors in the UK. The 'maypops' variety more popular in the US is rarely sold as hardy, when in fact it's extremely hardy. So - has anyone had any experience of growing the vitifolia outdoors in the UK? Thanks, Matthew I grow vitifolia in our conservatory. Spectacular brilliant red flowers. I wouldn't attempt it outdoors, even in the far west of Cornwall. I lost a P.molissima outside last winter. -- Chris E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
passiflora vitifolia
"Chris Hogg" wrote in message
news On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 09:04:30 GMT, "Matthew Durkin" wrote: Hi All, Last year I grew a passiflora vitifolia from seed. I only had one shoot out of a packet unfortunately. The plant is now about a foot tall and is starting to form side shoots. I'm now wondering how much cold this plant will take and if it would survive a UK winter. It has been outside now since spring so may already have had some light frosts - some of the leaves were burnt. Generally passiflora are said to not be hardy, but from what I've read, quite a few are perfectly happy outdoors in the UK. The 'maypops' variety more popular in the US is rarely sold as hardy, when in fact it's extremely hardy. So - has anyone had any experience of growing the vitifolia outdoors in the UK? Thanks, Matthew I grow vitifolia in our conservatory. Spectacular brilliant red flowers. I wouldn't attempt it outdoors, even in the far west of Cornwall. I lost a P.molissima outside last winter. -- Chris E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net hehe - I lost my only molissima when the seed that sprouted did so upside down. I got a nice view of the root for about 4 days; unfortunately by the time I realised this it was too late and no other seeds sprouted. I have heard that the molissima is slightly hardy - more so than the vitifolia in fact. How old / big was the one you lost? Where do you live? I live in Hertfordshire so pretty cold - though that said my non-hardy fuscias all survived through snow and ice. Maybe my garden is sheltered. Sadly I don't have a conservatory otherwise I'd grow them in there! I also don't have a garden big enough to take a conservatory |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
passiflora vitifolia
On Sat, 17 Jul 2004 09:04:30 GMT, "Matthew Durkin"
wrote: Last year I grew a passiflora vitifolia from seed. I only had one shoot out of a packet unfortunately. The plant is now about a foot tall and is starting to form side shoots. I'm now wondering how much cold this plant will take and if it would survive a UK winter. It has been outside now since spring so may already have had some light frosts - some of the leaves were burnt. I don't know what part of the country you live in Matthew, but you are very lucky to have a plant so young that has withstood being out of doors. P. vitifolia is one of the more tender species and will often stop growing at temperatures below 12C. Established, old plants can withstand the occasional drop to near freezing, but will lose their leaves and wait until a very warm spell before resuming growth. If that warm spell does not occur for several months, the plant simply gives up and dies. It is a very tropical species that relishes heat and humidity and is nowhere near as cold tolerant as Passiflora mollissima and far less so than P.incarnata (Maypops). I can just about persuade P. mollissima to overwinter out of doors here, but then we get very infrequent (if any) very short and very light frosts. By contrast, I've had P. vitifolia keel over and die by late October - even though I brought it indoors the moment I saw that it was unhappy. 2 weeks of nights falling to between 10 and 5C coupled with wet days not rising above 14C were enough to do for it. The stems blackened and nothing could persuade the die back to stop. My suggestion is to place your plant under glass where it will remain at around or above 20C by night. This way you will get good growth. I would expect a year old seedling to be around 6 or 8 feet tall by now and its spell out of doors is holding it back. By all means place it outside when it has reached flowering size and night time lows are in the 15 - 20C range. By the way, watch out for red spider mites - if there are any about, they will make a bee-line for your plant and quickly cause the leaves to yellow and fall off. Good luck with it - it is possibly the most attractive species and certainly the most stunning. Dave Poole Torquay, Coastal South Devon UK Winter min -2°C. Summer max 34°C. Growing season: March - November |
Reply |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
passiflora vitifolia | United Kingdom | |||
passiflora vitifolia | United Kingdom | |||
passiflora vitifolia | United Kingdom | |||
Passiflora cuttings - when is best and what is the easiest method? | United Kingdom | |||
Passiflora 'Sunburst' | United Kingdom |