Characteristics
| Hardiness zone | 9b |
|---|---|
| Flower color | crimson |
| Foliage type | evergreen |
| Plant form | spreading |
| Mature height | 15 feet |
| Spread | 30 inches |
| Light requirements | full sun |
| Moisture requirements | average to moist |
| Plant origin | import |
Crimson Passion Flower
Botanical name: Passiflora vitifolia
A truly spectacular vine for the garden; the large crimson flowers are very distinctive; fruit is edible but quite sour; wonderful for covering an arbor, trellis or lattice, the flowers are individually beautiful close up.
Other names: Perfumed Passion Flower, Grape-leaf Passion Flower
Ornamental Features
Crimson Passion Flower features showy lightly-scented crimson star-shaped flowers with white eyes at the ends of the branches in mid summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has dark green foliage. The lobed leaves remain dark green throughout the winter. It produces dark green berries with white spots from mid summer to mid fall.
Landscape Attributes
Crimson Passion Flower is a multi-stemmed evergreen woody vine with a twining and trailing habit of growth. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.
This is a relatively low maintenance woody vine, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It has no significant negative characteristics.
Crimson Passion Flower is recommended for the following landscape applications;
Accent, Hedges/Screening, General Garden Use, Container Planting
Planting and Growing
Crimson Passion Flower will grow to be about 15 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 30 inches. As a climbing vine, it tends to be leggy near the base and should be underplanted with low-growing facer plants. It should be planted near a fence, trellis or other landscape structure where it can be trained to grow upwards on it, or allowed to trail off a retaining wall or slope. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 10 years.
This woody vine should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type, but has a definite preference for alkaline soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone in winter to protect it in exposed locations or colder microclimates. This species is not originally from North America.
Crimson Passion Flower makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its spreading habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.
