Passion Flower

October 8, 2016

Can you help me identify a vine, growing wild, with heart-shaped leaves, purple and white frilly flowers and oval green pods?

 I would guess passionvine- Passiflora incarnata without seeing a picture.  Here is an example.  They have egg-shaped fruit loaded with seeds and a very detailed bloom.

August 27, 2016

From one small planting of a purple Passion flower vine, it has sprung up everywhere - rose bushes, yard, iris bed etc. How can we get rid of it permanently?   When the vine is pulled up, it just comes back.

 Even though it is a native plant, in the right conditions Passion flower can become a bit aggressive. The key is to learn to identify it when it germinates in the spring.  Either pulling them and/or spot spraying with a glyphosate product can help to eradicate them.  The longer they are allowed to grow, the more tenacious the root system.  If you do want to keep one or two plants, be sure to harvest the fruit before it is fully mature to prevent any from reseeding.

February 1, 2016

I have your book “In the Garden”.  The photo of the passion flower on the cover is beautiful and I would like to grow the vine on an arbor in our back yard. What conditions do I need to be successful?  We live in Bella Vista.  Will the plant overwinter here?

 The native passion flower or Passiflora incarnata should do well statewide in full sun to partial shade. There are some improved cultivars with showier flowers.   This past year the vines were literally covered in egg-shaped fruits which are loaded with seeds.  Some gardeners find that the plants get a bit aggressive in their gardens.  There is a red variety that is tropical and will not overwinter.

September 2012

My husband found this strange weedy vine growing near the PV golf course and brought it home for my amazement. The interesting flower is sweet smelling and has a very unusual shape, I think. I'll send another photo of the flower. Is the bulb the beginning of a gourd?

 The plant is a passion vine and the fruit is edible, but full of seeds. The flower is the one on the cover of my book.

October 2010

I am sending you a picture of a flower in my yard. Is it the same as the picture of the one on the cover of your book “In the Garden”? If so, what is it?

They are the same plant. The picture on the cover of my book is a passion flower Passiflora incarnate.

July 2007

I have gotten multiple questions concerning the same plant, so thought I would put them all together for one question. Attached is also a picture of the plant. I found the attached flower growing on ground vine on my property. I’ve never seen anything quite like it and hoped you could identify it. It was about 2-2 ¼ inches in diameter. There is a seed ball on it . The bugs had eaten the leaves pretty badly . I would like to transplant a Maypop/Passion flower plant/vine from a field to my yard. When would be a good time to do so and do you think I would be successful in keeping the plant/vine alive? Would it be better to try to get seeds from the fruit and start the plant from seed? If so when do I harvest the seeds? The plant I found has beautiful flowers and fruit on it.

 The flowers must really be popping now statewide, because I have gotten tons of questions about them this week. The flower in question is a passion vine, maypop, or passion flower Passiflora incarnata. The plant is perennial and will come back each season. In some parts of the state, they find it to be a bit weedy, coming up from the root system as well as from seed. They grow readily from seed; you can plant the entire fruit or remove the individual seeds and plant them. Allow the fruits to mature on the vine. They should turn a yellowish color when ripe. You could also transplant a plant this fall. Just flag the plants location now so you know where it is when it gets time to move it.