Episode 2: Passion Flower
Latin name: Passiflora
Bridget’s ‘posy grandma’
This is the well loved photograph given to Bridget by her glamorous grandmother and as Bridget says herself ‘worthy of an Instagram pose today’. I love the thought of cuttings from various parks and gardens stuffed into the handbag and then put into jars on the kitchen windowsill. Bridget says: “she probably sidled up to somebody, somewhere, and said ‘could I possibly take a cutting of that because it’s very lovely’ and they would have been so disarmed that they would have said yes!”
Myles explained that the Spanish priests called the passion flower - La flor de las cinco heridas or the flower with five wounds. ‘A lot of people think the passion is to do with love but of course it’s the crucifixion.’
There are 5 petals and 5 sepals (which alternate with the petals) which represent the 10 disciples, minus Judas and Peter.
The Corono filaments, the little bits which radiate out from the middle are the crown of thorns.
The 5 stamen sticking out in the middle of the plant are the 5 sacred wounds.
The 3 stigma are the nails.
One of Bridget’s passion flowers with proof that they are attractive to bees too!
This is the fence in her former house, so you can see how wild and crazy a passion flower can be if it is in its ‘happy place’!
List of the plants mentioned in this episode
Passiflora caerulea - the one that Bridget’s grandmother grew in her South London garden
Passiflora ‘Constance Eliott’ - Myles says this one would also have been available at the time
Passiflora ‘Amethyst’ - this was the first passionflower that Myles bought back in the late 80’s.
Passiflora quadrangularis - grows up to about 150 feet in the jungle and grew all over Myle’s kitchen!
Passiflora ‘Damsel’s Delight’ - bred by Myles
Passiflora ‘Snow Queen’ - a polyploid version bred by Myles of the white ones you get from the caerulea.
Passiflora ‘Betty Myles Young’ - which he named after his mum and can be seen at RHS Wisley. As can P. ‘Snow Queen and P. ‘Damsel’s Delight’
Passiflora x violacea ‘Victoria’
HOW TO GROW
This is a starter guide from the information in the podcast. There is of course lots more information to be found on Myles website. He also mentioned the International Passiflora Society and a Facebook group: Passiflora - Passion flowers online. He explained that his passion flower collection exploded when he ordered a catalogue from Dr R J R Vanderplank who holds a national collection of Passiflora. There is also a second national collection held by Jane Lindsay and Toni O’Connor at Tynings nursery.
Plant or seeds
Myles advice was buy a plant from a garden centre or a specialist nursery because then you will know what you are getting. “Seed is not good because Passiflora seed can be really difficult to germinate, caerulea, the common one is usually ok but others can be really tough and some of them, it will take years before they start to flower.” You can of course take cuttings from friends - ‘if you like the look of the plant they have got’.
When should you buy your passion flower?
“The new stuff starts to turn up usually at Easter. Most garden centres don’t stock passion flowers from sort of November through to April because they’re going to look a bit messy outside over Winter. Not very saleable. But Easter onwards that’s when they come in. When plants come over, as say 90% of them do to this country from Holland, they’ve been grown in fantastic, perfect conditions. Heated greenhouses, plenty of light, possibly artificial light as well. So they are going from a very protected indoor environment and you really need to let them stabilize at home, rather than suddenly putting them out because the shock can half finish them. It’s not just passion flowers, it’s all sorts of other plants that people buy because they look fantastic in the garden centre. So you might be better waiting a bit and checking that they are growing them outside at the garden centre and they’re kind of doing ok there - that would be a good time to buy.”
Can we grow it in a pot?
“Generally they will be happier and grow bigger and better in the ground because a number of them are greedy feeders but they can do fine in pots but you just have to remember to feed them. If they have a lot of hard water hosed onto them over the years, that can be a bit problematic. So sometimes you’re better to actually take the plant out of the pot, bash it on the ground to get the earth off and give it a fresh start.”
Where does it like to be in a garden?
As Myles points out there are many different Passiflora so there is not a rule for all! However: “The ones that you are usually going to see around here which are principally my ones, sometimes Amethyst , perhaps Passiflora violacea ‘Victoria’, Passiflora caerulea ‘Purple Haze’, there’s a few about but all of them are not terribly fussy. They just want free draining soil and a sunny aspect. And you can put them right in next to brickwork, which South facing for most plants would be too much because they would just get frazzled, but they can cope with being pretty dry and pretty hot for the most part.”
Good luck with your passion flower adventures!
Below is a photograph of my Grandmother who like Bridget’s grandmother had a bit of a reputation for taking cuttings…for grandad. I suspect the handbag contained some scissors, it almost certainly contained a few cuttings!
My nana, on the beach at Lowestoft - with handbag!
I do hope that you have enjoyed this second episode of Our Plant Stories. If you have listened via a podcasting app and are able to take the time and trouble to rate and review on the app, that would be extremely kind. It will also help others to discover the podcast and us to grow this plant story community. I’d love to hear your passion flower stories or thoughts about the podcast in the comments.
Next week we are in America, finding out about Fig trees. Why, when Dion was growing up in Boston, did his dad take so much care wrapping the fig tree every winter? What made that tree so important to his dad and his grandad?