Amazing legends. The Christian Bible says that "the very rocks will cry out if we fail to praise God. All of creation praise the Lord". Isn't it amazing to see that nature indeed honors God? I use to have a Pastor who would say "No rock is going to do my praising for me"!!! And the lowly catfish, a bottom feeder represents the ultimate highest sacrificial example. Your Blog postings are so enjoyable. Thank you Susie

Hi Jim! I haven't seen you post here in forever! :) I got my P. mooreana from Almost Eden in January '12. It bloomed for me in May of that year. I grew it in a tall narrow pot (12" tall, 10" wide) in the fast draining 5:1:1 mix in full sun outside. I hope yours blooms since I'm curious as to what your thoughts will be on its scent. We seem to have similar scent tastes. I think P. caerulea has a funky medicinal scent. My partner planted it on our arbor and it's threatening to take it over but the bees like it. P. incarnata has a musky scent that I don't particularly find pleasing but boy do the bumblebees love it! Have you smelled P. alatocaerulea? It seems to have been blessed with more of P. alata's scent. :) -Robert Here is a link that might be useful: P. mooreana blooming for me This post was edited by robert1971 on Mon, Nov 4, 13 at 14:02

mickeymantle, you should just message Elizabeth Peters (or maybe her sister will respond) through the site on Grassy Knoll Exotics (http://gkplants.com/pages/contact). The site is set up now so sending a message is very easy. They are nice, helpful people, in Oregon City, OR, which I assume is also zone 8b. Elizabeth tends to be somewhat conservative as to her ratings of zones, but I imagine she is aware what people in her area have successfully grown outside. A lot of the Passifloras with hardiness past zone 9 are hybrids of P. incarnata or P. caerulea, so there are a lot with purple flowers, of some sort... P. caerulea 'Constance Eliott' is one variety that is hardier well past your zone, which is all white. There are others.... Wild Haired Mavens, you are lucky in that you are in climate where you can grow almost anything. The real exceptions are the truly tropical species (such as pure P. quadrangularis). You are actually probably borderline for some of the cool growers (like a lot of us). because you are not right on the coast. They thrive in places like San Francisco. Still, I bet you can grow must of them if given plenty of moisture, shade in the afternoon, etc. Most Passifloras can be grown and bloom in pots. Exceptions include P. membranacea, some of the biggest Tacsonias (P. parritae is one), and a few others. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find info on how big plants typically get. If you are looking for smaller ones, a good one might be P. elegans, which gets edible fruit (among the tastiest, I'm told) and is a nice looking plant out of bloom. I think most of its flowering is in the Spring, though. P. luzmarina, if you can find it, is another really nice, somewhat smaller plant. I assume the fruit it edible, but I also think it's not self-fertile. P. edulis has great tasting fruit, but the plant gets huge. Most of the Taconias will get pretty big. P. antioquiensis might be another one to try (in addition to its hybrid P. .'Mission Dolores') as it is not as big as some of its relatives, and it's self fertile (but not always self-pollinating--you need to help it with a paintbrush. Same is true of 'Mission Dolores'). For non-fruiting (or non-edible) plants, and interesting flowers and variegation, a couple really nice ones are P. 'Manta' and P.. 'Sunburst'. Both have very small, but very interesting flowers and interesting leaves, and do well in pots. Some people object to the smell of P. 'Sunburst', although I seems to be one of the many who doesn't notice it. There are a number with interesting leaves. I don't know if you can grow P. boenderi outside there all year--I would guess maybe not. P. trifasciata might be more likely . For fragrance, I understand P. mooreana, which is a smaller plant, is one of the best. There are related species, which are also supposed to be nice. Apparently the hybrid 'Chambord' (Jim Nevers, Passiflorista on Ebay) has a great fragrance. Eric Wortman and Crystal Stone have a hybrid 'Godiva' which they say smells like chocolate. That one is not in wide circulation yet. There are others. 'Preciosa' and a lot of that type of Passiflora have pretty amazing scents as well. If you don't want to just kill the caterpillars, a lot of people just have a plant they transfer all of the ones they see to. There are a lot of Passifloras that are really vigorous growers and can be used for that purpose--take your pick. You definitely don't want a caterpillar devouring a cutting--hopefully it's not too late.

I've grown Passionate Kisses for several years now. I planted it in front of the border expecting mine to stay low growing, but it really should be a middle of the border rose here...mine grows to about 4 to 5 ft tall and 3 to 4 ft wide. Beautiful, rounded shrub form with leaves and blooms from top to bottom. It's a very heavy and almost constant bloomer here. Very heat resistant, low thorns (but not completely thornless), and although light, it does have a nice fresh scent if you stick your nose to the blooms. Foliage is very dark and contrasts nicely with the clear salmon pink blooms. We have very high blackspot pressure here & PK will spot some if not sprayed...middle of the road bs resistance for me...not my best or my worst offender. Mildew isn't a problem in my climate, so can't speak to PK's resistance to that.