Purple Passion Flower Vine / Maypop / Passiflora incarnata in the NE Florida Landscape
Passiflora incarnata… Whats in a name?
( Pass-siff-FLOR-ruh in -kar-NAY-tuh) Passiflora means ‘passion flower’ and incarnata means ‘in the flesh’ not that that will ever get anywhere, sometimes its just fun to see the breakdown 🙂
My personal favorite passion flower vine simply because the butterflies seem to prefer it as a the larval host plant for their caterpillars to munch. It is in my home garden collection of passion the incarnata they are seemingly always the first to be munched and I have found that to be true here at the nursery site as well. Everybody and everything loves the Maypops, and what do we grow these beautiful blooms for if not to make food for our neighbors? Maybe that’s just my avid butterfly gardening perspective. Both the Gulf Frittilary and the Zebra long wing utilize this species as a larval host plant depending on its planting location and everybody enjoys the blooms, they attract loads of pollinators of all sorts.
When planted into shadier areas it will attract Zebra longwings to lay their eggs and when planted into a full sun spot you will get loads of Frittilary caterpillars munching away on the foliage…and blooms…and stems. While these hungry caterpillars seem to do a whole lot of damage and it may look a bit frightening when its all said and done, don’t panic, these plants have evolved right along side those hungry hungry caterpillars and are no stranger to the damage! They regrow quickly from a well developed root system and will be back and blooming before too long!
passionflower vines are short lived perennials that you can expect to live a few seasons in the landscape.
Origins of Purple Passion Flower Vine / Maypop / Passiflora incarnata:
The Passiflora genus is considered pan-tropical, it is distributed among the tropical regions of the planet and consists of more than 500 species with most found in South America, eastern Asia, southern Asia, and New Guinea and some found in our very own SE United States like our native passiflora incarnata. They are members of the family passifloraceae and may be a vine, shrub, or herbaceous plant.
This personal favorite of mine is a vining plant that is Native to Florida and much of the Southeastern United States. It is cold hardy to 5 degrees F and can be planted in garden zones 7-11.
Blooms and Fruit of Purple Passion Flower Vine / Maypop / Passiflora incarnata :
Purple passion flower / Maypop blooms in summer and fall. Each bloom lasts about a day and can range from 3-5 inches in width but are normally seen growing wild in the 3 inch range. The pink and purple flowers are a major attraction of butterflies and other pollinators to the garden. The blooms are made up of 10 white to pink or lavender tepals ( the calyx / sepals and petals are sometimes referred to as tepals, the are the supporting structure of flower) the curled filaments are purple and white. Like all passion flower blooms, atop that corona of filaments sits the stigma with 5 stamen. the flowers are perfect or complete, containing both female and male parts, so they are self pollinating.
Fruits form green and then age to a soft yellow color and are the size of a small egg. They are oval in shape and are produced abundantly on vines along with the flowers. The fruits are edible but not considered very tasty and can reach 2-3 inches in diameter. This species is grown more for its flowers and foliage than for its fruits.
Foliage and Mature Size of the Maypop / Purple Passion Flower Vine in NE Florida Landscapes:
Deeply trilobed leaves are a bright shiny green color and will remain on the plant over the winter season in zones 9-11 but may defoliate in winter time in cooler climate zones. Leaves can reach 4-8 inches in length.
The vines on Maypops can reach to 10-30 ft long. When planting on a trellis remember to wind your vines sideways to get the most blooms and fullness on your trellis, it will go up all on its own but you will need to force it sideways and redirect growth back to the trellis that wants to stray to nearby shrubs trees trees or buildings as they grow aggressively during summertime when the temperatures and rainfall are high.
Exposure for Purple Passion Flower / Maypop / passiflora incarnata in NE Florida Landscapes:
Plant these pollinator paradises in a full sun or a partial shade location. Morning shade with all afternoon sun is also ideal, this is a sun loving, heat loving vine! Although the plant will still thrive in shadier areas they will produce more blooms with sunnier areas.
Soil Preference for Maypop / Purple Passion Flower in NE Florida Landscapes:
Passion flowers are tolerant of a wide range of soils and conditions. Passiflora incarnata will tolerate occasionally wet, acidic, slightly alkaline, sand loam or clay soils and are at home in NE Floridas sandy soil gardens without needing heavy amendments of compost or manures at the time of planting. In fact, passion flowers planted in high nitrogen rich soil environments may have a tendency toward excess leaf production at the expense of blooms so your native soil in the landscape is fine. Just Plant them and give them a nice thick mulch layer to regulate the soil moisture!
passiflora incarnata is a drought tolerant plant selection.
Want to see more Passionflower vines for NE Florida landscapes? Links below!