My mother-in-law has bestowed two passion flower plants on me that she grew as seedlings - translation "Don't you dare let them die!"
They are shooting up like something out of Quatermass (that dates me!), in the living room, but is it safe to transfer them to an outdoor site at this time of year? We live in a particularly windy corner of Cumbria.
I don't know the answer to this I'm afraid, but will be interested to know the answer. I have 2 seedlings that I grew from seed this year and I was wondering whether they will need any protection over the winter?
me too, thee of the banana passionfruit..hope someone who knows about them comes along soon ;D
Not remotely knowledgeable about this but until someone else comes along....
My OH's last house had them on an east/south east facing wall in a London suburb and it over winters quite happily, but I don't know what variety it is.
There are also quite a few in gardens round us here in SW London, but I think all of them are against house walls or similar.
Late winter always causes mine to die back but I've trimmed it back hard in spring and it's always come back - oh heck what have I said?
Sand
My banana passionfruit will stay in its bucket under the hedge overwinter. It will be given nothing but water and a sound thrashing twice a day - Ha! That'll teach it!
Or... it'll stay in its bucket under the hedge , I'll be pruning it down quite hard (to within an inch of its life if poss) a bit of mulch on top, and I'll be ready with a fleece drawstring bag (available from the 99p shop in packs of 2 - decent size as well) or failing that, some bubblewrap, if things look dodgy. I'd like to see it get by on its own though, having been a rampant thug all summer, so I probably won't bother with any protection - also I'm in central London... and prone to forgetfulness...
;D
I think it will depend on what type of passion flower it is - is it a hardy one or did your mother-in-law grow it inside like in a conservatory or similar? If the latter then don't put it outside.
I have a hardy one on my east facing conifer hedge, its fine outside and providing you harden the seedling off OK now before planting out and the soil is still reasonably warm i would plant it out, you can always give it a bit of protection from the wind and if you get a really hard frost. a straw mulch or fleece wrapped round it would be fine.
Place it somewhere as sunny as possible and it will take a while to get going - 3 seasons after i bought mine it has finally started to flourish (flower wise - just foliage before).
admittedly we live in Southern England (previously Sussex, now Wiltshire), anddon't get much groundfrost, although in both instances we've been very much exposed to the winds - and our passionflowers, grown from cuttings nicked from next door's neighbour's fence, are virtually indestructible: raised outdoors, they have survived snow, gales, and all sorts of downpours, so I guess they are pretty hardy - or just stubborn. The only treatment they don't seem to like is long periods of droughts, but apart from that they do alright in our extremely poor soil.
Oh Dear! - I dread cutting back! I had 30 Dogwoods that I cut back to about 6" last Spring - All those that were container grown, & planted the previous summer died (Though the bare-rooted ones planted in winter are thriving)
I cut back a buddlia, that was standing three feet tall to about 18" - RIP!
Now you say cut these flippin' things back!
If you feeling a bit daunted, you could prune them now, AND keep them indoors overwinter - that way they'll stay manageable until Spring, when you can let them loose on the outside world!
;D
I have a passion flower thats taken over one of my hedges and I'm really vicious with it chopping it back nearly weekly at the moment as its still putting a spurt on, Think mines about 3 years old i woulddn't be afraid of cutting it if its older than a year.
wouldn't know what to do with seedlings sorry