John & Maria's Garden Pages

Gardening with Passion

Passion flowers that is.  Two years ago I lost a massive Abutilon 'Waltz' on my south facing rear house wall.  Not to frost but to an Atlantic gale that whipped it out of the ground.  At it's peak it was magnificent and I still mourn the loss.

The question then became what to replace it with.  And the answer came in the shape of a visit to the now sadly defunct Hill House nursery.  They had two fairly new passion flowers in the greenhouse, both allegedly hardy, and both bred to stay open for two to three days rather that the one day with Passiflora caerulea.

I bought one of each.  White 'Snow Queen'...

...and blue 'Clear Sky'

Don't they make a lovely couple.

They did well last year while establishing but with one comparatively mild winter out of the way they've exploded to cover a good chunk of the wall in their planting corner.  Now hung with a myriad of flower buds and the first couple of flowers already out they're promising to produce a fantastic display this summer.  And, yes, the individual flowers do last up to three days.

Oh, and they're also encroaching on a space occupied by my plant of Clematis florida var. sieboldiana 'Viennetta', a passion flower look alike I have growing on an adjacent wall and also coming up for flowering.

It will be interesting to see them side by side as a group of hardy exotic climbers for milder UK gardens.