Passionflowers

We have been growing passionflowers since the mid 1990s when we visited John Vanderplank’s National Collection and were inspired to start collecting ourselves. Since then we have grown and killed numerous species and hybrids. In fact if passionflowers had an Interpol we would be on their most wanted list.

We have previously categorised them as hardy, half hardy and tender with a subsection of ‘really tender ones’. However it has become increasingly clear that these are not helpful categories. As Forrest Gump said, ‘Hardy is as hardy does,’. The two problems he must have had in mind are firstly that hardiness is such a variable quantity depending on shelter belts, frost pockets, soil types, rainfall and so many other factors and secondly that the real question is whether a plant is worth growing outside even if it is hardy. I will therefore be splitting them into 3 groups according to how we grow them.

Group 1: Plants that grow happily outside all year round.

Group 2: Plants that we bed out for the summer (once a plant has been out for a couple of seasons it is almost impossible to dig up without killing it as its roots will have moved so far down. They really don’t mind being lifted and potted in the greenhouse for winter on a yearly basis – in fact some seem to thrive on it).

Group 3: Plants that stay in the greenhouse all year.

See individual sections for growing tips