This is the pink form of the red P. racemosa. It is now considered to be a naturally occurring hybrid, however it makes beautiful racemes of floewers some (see bottom picture) emerging direct from the base of the main stem with no leaves. With developing and closing buds as colourfiul as the flowers it gives a lot of bang for your buck. It seems to be hardier than P. racemosa too, ours took an accidental plunge to -9 overnight and survived. Best to keep it above +5 though. they are difficult to take cuttings from and i will upload a solution to this on the propagation page.
Passiflora ‘Kew Gardens’ This was formerly known as ‘Kewensis’ but lost that name to P. ‘Amethyst’ a few years ago due to the away goals rule. It is a very delicate and lovely hybrid of racemosa and requires a similar bit of persuasion to make cuttings produce new shoots.
Passiflora ‘Annette’ is a hybrid made by back crossing P. ‘Kew Gardens’ with P. racemosa. This is another night flowering passionflower that opens in the evening and (unless the weather is dull or it’s late in the season) closes by 10 the next morning. A great one for those who work for a living!
Passiflora foetida: Also known as The Goat Scented Passionflower, or the Stinking Passionflower and is an incredibly variable species. The bad smell comes when the leaves are crushed and it’s really not so bad. The flower having no scent. They are surrounded by a love-in-a-mist style bracts which are quite sticky and keeps insects at bay
Passiflora ‘Aurora’ is a hybrid of P. foetida. This a a day flowering passionflower that is often closed up again by teatime. (‘Looks great in the morning but everything is closed by teatime?’ – could that be the greatest description ever of rural Devon?) Breeder: Maurizio Vecchia
Passiflora ‘Michael’ is a hybrid of P. vitifolia with P. caerulea. The former is very tender so crossing it with P. caerulea has created a plant that is less fussy. The price paid for this is that the scarlet flowers of vitifolia have turned a duller brick red. However they are big and the plant robust so a great one to have. I have been experimenting with grafting P. vitifolia to P. caerulea rootstocks (fungal disease of the roots is what makes these so difficult to overwinter) this year so watch this space! – Breeder: M G Van der Steeg
Passiflora ‘Piresae‘ is a hybrid crossing P. quadrifaria with P. vitifolia to create this beauty. However it is even harder to overwinter than P. vitifolia and I don’t have one to graft onto hardier rootstock. On the wishlist, and one to graft on to a P. caerulea rootstock to help over wintering) – Breeder: John VanderPlank
Passiflora phoenicia is similar to the better know P. alata. These square stemmed species and hybrids (including P. quadrangularis – though most that you buy under that name are hybrids with alata) are dramatic and heavily scented. I have had and lost at least half a dozen different ones. I rate P. phoenicia as the best of the bunch (and we still have it!)
Passiflora ‘La Morellina’ is a lovely hybrid which I find somewhat difficult to grow well. I will be trying out various growing conditions to find a solution to this, because when it is growing well, it is full of flowers and a real sight! – Breeder: Maurizio Vecchia
Passiflora ‘Pura Vida’ was sold a lot in the 1990s and appeared on the market again a dozen or so years ago (though those turned out to be x violacea). The real deal is lovely and free flowering. It is a slightly complicated hybrid (Basically P. Amethyst x P. racemosa which means in full it is (P. kermesina x P. caerulea) x P. racemosa) and was the starting point for the breeding of P. ‘Crimson Tears’, one of the most extraordinary, most complex (involves 5 species crossed) most beautiful and most temperamental plants I have grown. which also gives you one of those ‘invite the neighbours round days when it flowers’)
Passiflora ‘Crimson Tears’: – See comments above on P. ‘Pura Vida’. This is a crossing of P. ‘Pura Vida’ with P. gritensis and then with P. amethystina. This gives it the extraordinary formula: (((P. kermasina x P. caerulea) x P. racemosa) x P. gritensis) x P. amethystina. It isn’t very surprising, therefore, that it is a bit temperamental. but it is also magnificent when it flowers. – Breeder: Dr Roland Fischer
I got this under an invalid and misspelt name, Purple Passion is the best match I can find for it, especially since it was from the Netherlands and Purple Passion was a none too successful attempt to sell a pretty passionflower on the mass market in the 2000s. It looks pretty much identical. Unfortunately I don’t know the cross that gave rise to it. Its lovely though and produced viable seed. Still waiting for the first flower from the offspring
Passiflora x kewensis ‘Amethyst’ (or just P. ‘Amethyst’ to its friends): This is a lovely coloured and free flowing hybrid (often confused with P. ‘Lavender Lady’ and frequently labelled amethystina, both of which are separate plants). It is hardy down to about -8 or so if allowed to get its roots deep in the first year and given a sheltered spot. The x kewensis is the result of recent research and it had to take the name from a very lovely hybrid now called ‘Kew Gardens’. The rules of plant naming are simple in principle but can be a tad confusing. Easiest perhaps to just refer to this as Passiflora ‘Amethyst’.
Passiflora ‘Purple Haze’ This hybrid of P. caerulea x P. amethystina is, I’m told, pretty hardy so I’ll be trying it out and may have to include it on the hardy page if all goes well. Very pretty and has one of those ‘either love it or hate it’ scents. – Breeder: Cor Laurens
Passiflora ‘Monika Fischer’ is a triploid hybrid. Wonderful colouring. I find it a bit tricky to get going well, but it’s well worth the effort. Breeder: Dr Roland Fischer
Passiflora amethystina: A varied species which has often been used in breeding (see Purple Haze etc). Not to be mistaken with P. ‘Amethyst’, a commonly grown hybrid (P. kermesina x P. caerulea). the form shown above is known as ‘long peduncle’ and there are some other very attractive forms named for the municipalities where they grow. The form from Minas Gerais is particularly fine and well coloured as is the one below:
Passiflora amethystina from the Domingo Martins municipality of Brazil. A very pretty, slightly smaller flowered form which has much in common with P. yunqueria (see below) which some have categorised as a form of amethystina. Don’t let the complexity of the naming distract you from the stunning beauty of these blooms!
Passiflora yunqueria, with its long sepal awns (see photo below!), has much in common with passiflora amethystina, but is a little known species and more work is required to establish its relationship with others!
Passiflora ‘Yarnick’: Another lovely vigorous, free flowering vine. – Breeder: Francois Thuys
Devon Subtropical Garden 