# Passion Flower



## idav5d (Nov 24, 2008)

They grow wild in my yard and you're right, the bees love 'em! They also make passion fruit...


----------



## DRUR (May 24, 2009)

Yes, there was a field about 150 yards behind a couple of my colonies, maybe a 1/2 acre of solid passion flower vines. About the middle of June (as I can recall), they were in full bloom, but the bees were not working them then. But at the time the Chinese Tallow were also blooming and the bees were all over them. They also might only produce nectar in cooler weather. These vines had been bushhogged down and I don't know if they have come back yet, but I will check tomorrow. They had made a bunch of passion fruit before they were mowed down.


----------



## Laurence Hope (Aug 24, 2005)

We have our backyard fence covered with Passionflower the whole length, and while the bumblebees love it, our honeybees don't use it at all. Another nicety is the larvae of fritilary butterfly eat the leaves, so our backyard is full of frits all summer. Nice.


----------



## Walt B (Jul 14, 2009)

The photo is of the native passion flower. There is also a Japanese version that isn't attractive to larva and is somewhat invasive. 

The plant was so named because the monks thought it told the story of the Passion of Christ. Of course, the monks may have been hitting the sacremental wine a little hard that day. 

Here's a link to the passion flower story:

http://www.mgardens.org/JS-TPF-MG.html

Walt


----------



## Hambone (Mar 17, 2008)

I am guessing this was not a native species. It did appear to be invasive.


----------



## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

I've planted 5 of them, and for some mysterious reason, they never survive here. They are a beautiful plant, and also a host plant for the Gulf Fritillary butterfly larva.


----------



## Walt B (Jul 14, 2009)

Dragonfly,

The same thing happened to us...we planted a passion vine when we moved from Bell to Falls County and it promptly died. I checked the USDA Passion Flower distribution and it did not have Falls listed nor Bell, but we had the monster of all vines in Bell. :scratch:

There is a creek bed not far from us that has wild vines. This thread has just given me an excuse to skip my work around the "farm" this weekend and see about scrounging some seeds.  

Walt


----------



## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

Yeah Walt, it's weird. They are supposed to be perfectly suited for this area, and none of them have survived past the first season here. I've tried the white variety, the "native" variety, and a cross. They never regrow in the second season. One of my friends (about 8 miles away) has great success with them.:scratch:


----------

