Like many gardeners, my plot is surrounded on three sides by rather ugly fences. Although we’ve repainted them from hideous bright blue to a more muted brown, I’m not especially keen on seeing them. They cut the garden off too sharply, and make its size very clear indeed. So I’ve enlisted a couple of hard-working climbers to cover them.
Passion flowers (Passiflora caerulea) are flowers which pull you up short. You stare at them, creep a little closer, then stare again at the delicate machinery holding the whole operation together. Once this vine gets going (which it does pretty quickly, and with some vigour), the stems are covered with these little clock-like flowers from June to late October.
I am growing two specimens in the Garden from Scratch: the species vine, and P.caerulea ‘Amethyst‘. The latter is not quite as hardy as the species, which means in a harsh winter, it could disappear. The best way to safeguard against this is to plant the vines against a sunny, south-facing wall in a sheltered spot, and take cuttings in summer, just in case.
Most passion flowers will sustain some frost damage in England, and you’ll need to cut this back in April, along with any unwanted growth if the vine is too vigorous. I planted mine in April as tiny little plants, and already the fence panels are disappearing under ornate leaves and gorgeous flowers.
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Fabulous Valentines day flowers from Interflora.
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