Passionflowers by Dr. Lakshmi Sridharan

The rose garden with its infinite number of problems was getting on my nerves. I needed to break the monotony and add vertical dimension to my garden. My garden has now become a house of trellises with vines climbing gracefully over them. The beauty and the unique morphology of the flower popularly known as Passion Flower fascinated me when I was an undergraduate student in Botany. For years, I had been thinking of growing this beautiful vine in my garden. I never got to do it until last year. During one of my trips to a local nursery, I found a Passiflora in a small pot. I immediately brought it home and transplanted it in my front yard. Now, it grows gracefully on a trellis with the miniature rose growing on the other side.

Passaflora comes in all different colors -- red, white and blue. The vine in my garden is P. caeulea, the hardy blue passionflower. It took nearly a year for the vine to produce the exotic blue flowers. The vine is beautifully intricate and richly colorful. It is a tendril climber. To most people the word "Passion flower" conjures up pictures of exotic locations and people, and of fruit with mysterious and aphrodisiac qualities. This is not far from the truth. Just look at the gorgeous flower with its lovely petals, alluring colorful corona filaments, and androgynophore (the stamens and the pistil are placed in an elevated column which raises above the petals). Precisely for this reason, students of botany study this flower in the laboratory and the colorful trifid stigma will convince you why it was considered to be a floral marvel by Jacomo Bosio, a monastic scholar of seventeenth century. To Bosio, the seventy-two filaments (corona filaments) represented the number of thorns in the crown of thorns set upon Christ's head. The abundant and beautiful leaves are shaped like the head of a lance or pike like the spear that pierced the side of Christ, while the underside of the leaf is marked with dark round spots signifying thirty pieces of silver that Judas was paid to betray Christ. People of seventeenth century were obsessed with Christ and found religious significance in almost every thing.

The orange fruit is equally beautiful. For the first time in my life, I tasted the fruit of Passion Flower in my garden. The inner pulpy portion with the seeds is delicious, but not the outer skin.

Being a native of tropical rainforests of South America it likes warm temperatures (above 60 degrees F) and well-drained rich soil. Heavy frost can kill the plant. Plant in a sheltered location in full sun or partial shade. Make sure to amend clay soil with organic compost. Waterlogging will kill the plant. Heavy mulching protects the roots in winter. It is a heavy feeder and requires frequent fertilizing, twice a month with high potash liquid fertilizer. Being a vigorous climber, it needs a solid trellis to climb on.

The orange fruit is equally beautiful. The inner pulpy portion with the seeds is delicious, but not the outer skin.

It is easy to germinate seeds, but as the plants developed from the seed may not be identical to the mother plant, I recommend vegetative propagation by cuttings. Late autumn, is the right time for propagation by cuttings. With a sharp knife or clippers cut closely below the node of the first or second mature leaf from the end shoot. Carefully remove the bottom leaf and all the tendrils and flower stalks. Dip the cut end of the stem in rooting powder and insert 1/2 inch deep into compost - 15 cuttings will fit into a 6-inch pot. Nodal cuttings are useful when tip-cutting material is scarce. They should be 2 or 3 leaves long with the bottom leaf and tendril removed. The advantage here is that you can take numerous cuttings from one shoot. A mixture of equal parts of sand and sphagnum moss peat is an ideal rooting medium for the cuttings, but just sand, vermiculite, Perlite or peat will do. Maintain soil temperature of 65-70F. Cuttings will root at lower temperatures but may take a little longer. Many species and varieties will root on a warm windowsill, but it may be necessary to cover them with a clear polythene bag for the first week or so. Don't let the cuttings get too wet inside; either remove the bag for a while each day or make some small holes in it for ventilation. I use zip-lock bags filled half with equal parts of peat moss and vermiculite for rooting cuttings. Transplant the cuttings when it has developed a good root system.

With no hesitation, I recommend Passiflora to all the gardeners who share my passion for growing exotic plants.