island cassie

Finally did the deed yesterday and pruned the beast - in 18 months it had covered the pergola, hedge, big palms and escaped into neighbouring gardens. The sunlight couldn't get through, the grass wouldn't grow underneath it and it was bare at the base with all the flowers in the treetops or in my neighbours yard. When we pulled it all out, some of the "branches" were 60ft long, but now it is a subdued 15ft. I have rooted some replacement plants just in case it sulks and decides to die on me. It was such hard work that I forgot to take any photos, but here it is in the early days when it was less than half the size. Before I hacked at it, it had covered everything in the picture with a thick mat of vegetation.



I had no idea it would take off to that extent when I babied that little 4" plant! lol

the flying dutchman

I know all about it Cassie, my passiflora caerulea does the same. It even
keeps growing at low temperatures. It's not easy to pull them out hedges
or from roofs.



Ron

MediaHound

Been there, done that with my passiflora...


Very invasive!

__________________
Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

island cassie

I knew caerulea was like that, but for some reason this was much worse - 60ft vines and checking back it has only been there a year! But I forgive it - the red flowers are so beautiful and it is looking very sorry for itself atm. The hummingbirds keep flying around saying - where did it go? My edulis flaviocarpa is positively well behaved by comparison and loaded with fruit too.

southlatropical

Beautiful yard! I'm working toward getting my back yard to look like that.

__________________

tophersmith

I'm with Isaac, absolutely beautiful yard, one day mine could look like that at least in the summer time. How cold hady is your red passi?

island cassie

No idea really - I will look it up for you but generally the red flowered plants are not hardy. In England we grew them indoors. We are lucky here with the zone and we only grow what is happy here - luckily there are more plants in that category than we have room for. Of course we cannot have spring bulbs etc etc - so you have that advantage! lol

southlatropical

What is the variegated vine with big leaves growing up the left side of the pergola?

__________________

island cassie

I think it is Epipremnum pinnatum "Aureum" otherwise known as the variegated philodendrum - grown all over the caribbean. The leaves only grow large when it is climbing and I planted one either side of the pergola - the lhs grew upwards and had big leaves - the rhs wouldn't grow up and kept the small juvenile leaves that you see in houseplants. figure!

island cassie

Hi tophersmith - I have checked with John Vanderplank who is THE EXPERT on passiflora and it would seem that p. vitifolia is not hardy at all - needs a warm conservatory in the UK. If you have that - I grew my first plant (the monster) from seed and didn't expect it to take off like that - far far bigger than p. edulis or p. caerulea.

island cassie

The flowers are stunning though and I can forgive a lot for that.

southlatropical

There is a house near my work that has a vine similar to this growing up the side of the house. It has large leaves like the one on the left in your picture and looks very much like a philo. But I'm in zone 9 and I can't imagine that is what it is unless it was just planted outside this year. We had a very light frost this morning and I noticed the leaves on this vine were a little browned around the edges. I have been wondering all year what it is b/c most philo vines I've come across are not hardy to zone 9. Thanks for the info.

__________________