Passiflora blue, cavalier star, passion flower… Each of the names of this decorative creeper is fanned with romance and mystery. The flowers are trustingly open towards the sun and look naively touching against the background of dense glossy foliage.
When you get acquainted with this tropical plant, the words pop up in your memory by themselves: “You, darling, are good in all your outfits.” Indeed, passionflower pleases the eye with marvelous flowering, gives exotic fruits, imposingly covers supports, creating cozy shady corners in the garden.
What are you, passionflower?
Passiflora caerulea - "flower of suffering". Hence the second name - passion flower. Bright multi-layered flowers reach 9 cm in diameter. From a distance, each blue passion flower resembles an order in the shape of a star. Therefore, they call passionflower a cavalier star or an order-bearing liana.
Flowers adorn the plant during the day, then fall off, and new buds bloom on the vine. Within 4 months (from spring to autumn), blue passionflower blooms. The photo, unfortunately, does not convey the enchanting light aroma surrounding the vine at this time.
Dissected palmate leaves,reaching 15 cm in diameter, on the upper side of the leaf plate are painted in emerald gloss, on the lower side - rough and matte.
After flowering, bright orange egg-shaped fruits appear on the vine. Passiflora blue fruits are tasteless, but edible and he althy due to the content of vitamins and minerals.
Evergreen liana grows rapidly, deftly clinging to the surface with the thinnest long tendrils-spirals.
South America is considered the birthplace of most species of passionflower. The original habitats of the luxurious liana are the foothills of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, impenetrable thickets along the Amazon coast. Some types of creepers are found in North America, Asia, Africa and Australia.
Having arrived on the European continent, the exotic instantly won the hearts of flower growers.
Varieties and types of passionflower
At the first time after the appearance in Europe, the blue passion flower was found only in botanical gardens and among collectors of rare plants.
Fast growth, evergreen foliage, luxurious flowering attracted the attention of breeders, and at the beginning of the 19th century the first hybrids appeared. A century later, the popularity of the outlandish creeper has reached its peak: the plant is rapidly spreading among amateur flower growers and landscape designers.
Passiflora blue is only one of the evergreen vines of the Passionflower family. In addition to her, known:
| Passiflora species | Distinctivesigns |
| Three-strip (trifasciata) | Contrasting stripes on a dark background of palmate leaves. The flowers are white or pale yellow, with a lilac scent. |
| Tetrahedral (giant granadilla) | Length of lashes - 15 m. Fruits are juicy, sweet, reach 30 cm. |
| Pistinate | Deciduous look. The leaves are three-lobed, palmate. Red-blue flowers are arranged in pairs or in racemes. |
| Reed | The fruits are sweet. Flowers white or pink. |
| Delicate (Passion flower is the softest) | The leaves are finely serrated. Against a pale pink background of petals - a purple crown. |
| Tenderest (banana) | Diameter of bright pink flowers - up to 12 cm. Fruits abundantly. |
| Edible (crimson granadilla) | White flowers with a purple tinge. Sweet fruits. In Europe, the plant is known as passion fruit. |
| Changeable | Small pink or purple flowers. |
| Winged (Brazilian passion fruit) | Small orange or red flowers. The fruits have a pleasant aroma. |
Among the most famous varieties and hybrids:
- Constance Eliott with five-fingered leaves and white flowers.
- Regnellii with long and thickcrown.
- Lavander Lady with soft pink petals.
- Grandiflor with flowers up to 20 cm in diameter.
Passionflower blue Cassiopeia, an exotic with a contrasting expressive appearance of large flowers, has successfully established itself under home breeding conditions: a dark blue crown against a snow-white background of petals. Yellow-orange fruits are very decorative.
Indoor Growing
Exotic creeper is thermophilic, but unpretentious and unpretentious. If you create the conditions familiar to the southern beauty, then she will delight with luxurious flowering for a long time.
For passionflower blue care at home is to meet certain requirements:
- Soil. Composition: equal parts of leafy soil, neutral peat, humus with the addition of coarse sand. Drainage is needed so that water does not stagnate at the root system.
- Lighting. Abundant. In spring and summer - in an open sunny place. The permanent residence of the tropical beauty is on the south window with constant access to fresh air. In winter, additional lighting is required, as the plant needs light for 12 hours.
- Temperature. 20-26 degrees - during the growing season and flowering, 14-18 degrees - during the dormant period.
- Humidity. Increased. Dry air causes the buds to fall off. To increase humidity, it is recommended to regularly spray the vine with filtered or settled water.
- Water. From April to October - plentiful andregular. It is impossible to fill and overdry the vine. In winter, watering is moderate, but it cannot be stopped, since moisture is vital for a plant with evergreen foliage.
- Feeding. In March-August, complex universal fertilizers are used. During dormancy, the vine is not fed.
Compliance with these simple rules will help passionflower grow strong, he althy, blooming profusely. We must not forget about the support. A powerful vine needs support. If there is no artificial support, then passionflower will begin to braid its own shoots with antennae. This will weaken the plant.
Transfer
If the passion flower has grown strongly, it is cramped in the planting capacity, you should think about transplanting.
In this case, the earth is moistened to soften. The liana is carefully removed from the soft soil, the earth is shaken off the roots and carefully moved to another container.
Adult plant is transplanted only if necessary. A more favorable option would be: select a part of the earth from the container and add fresh soil rich in humus.
Passiflora blue is easier to transplant in early spring, until sap flow has begun. A transplant is also possible in the summer, but only if there is no strong heat. During the dormant period (in autumn and winter), it is undesirable to carry out any manipulations with the plant.
After transplanting around the vines, they create a greenhouse effect by increasing the humidity of the surrounding air.
Cliana pruning
For the successful cultivation of blue passionflowerat home, regular pruning is required. This gives the vine splendor and stimulates abundant flowering. It is necessary to remove the old shoots, leaving 1/3 of the length intact.
Pruning is done from the second year of life, in the spring, before the start of sap flow. You can combine this process with a transplant.
If the plant has grown too large, it is allowed to make additional pruning in the summer, but be very careful not to damage the shoots on which the flower buds are laid.
Outdoor cultivation
Landscapers and amateur gardeners are increasingly using Passiflora blue outdoors.
In the southern regions of Russia and in the middle lane, this type of unpretentious creeper can be cultivated as a perennial. For the winter, the plant must be carefully covered, trying to reliably protect the root system. To do this, use dry leaves or covering material. In case of freezing at ground level, the liana gives abundant root shoots in spring and quickly grows green mass, stretching up to 5-8 meters in length.
Passiflora can be transplanted outdoors when it reaches 2 years of age. The place should be sunny, calm. The landing pit must be provided with a high-quality drainage layer. A natural support for a creeper in a garden can be trees, for which it successfully clings, striving for the sun.
Passionflower is the perfect complement to a sunny south vibe in a Mediterranean style garden. Liana is planted in the ground or placed in a garden pot onterrace (for the winter, a container with a heat-loving flower must be moved from the street to the house or buried).
Passiflora blue from seeds at home: the secrets of successful reproduction
Passion flower is usually propagated in one of the following ways:
- top cuttings in conditions of high humidity, heat and light;
- seeds.
Passiflora blue Cassiopeia reproduces easier than all other varieties. Growing from seed consists of several steps:
- Preparation of the substrate (leaf earth is mixed in equal proportions with humus, peat, sand).
- Scarification of seeds, that is, the destruction of the upper dense shell, because the seeds are in a kind of hard shell.
- Soaking seeds in a stimulant (aloe juice, "Epin", "Zircon") until swelling.
- Seed germination (temperature 25-35 degrees, bottom heating, ventilation, soil moisture).
- Transplanting hatched seedlings into individual containers.
Seeds can be purchased at the store or get them yourself from the fruit. It should be borne in mind that freshly harvested seeds have the best germination.
Diseases and pests
Violation of tropical liana conditions can lead to diseases:
| External signs of disease | Source of problem | What action should be taken |
| Stem decay | Excessivewatering | Ensure recommended watering and air humidity |
| Flower ovaries drop | Dry air | |
| No flowering | Overwetting | |
| Buds do not tie | Low light | Provide the necessary illumination |
| Death of the creeper | Anthracosis | The plant cannot be saved. Flower and planting container must be destroyed |
| The appearance of black dots on the lower part of the leaf, the leaves turn pale and deformed, the buds fall off | Thrips | Use of insecticides (fitoverm, aktelik, aktara) |
| The appearance of dots on the sheet and a thin whitish web, sluggish growth | Spider mite | |
| White waxy coating, similar to cotton wool | Mealybug | Cypermethrin use |
| Green mass is actively growing, but there is no flowering | Overly nutritious soil | Replace the soil with a neutral soil that meets the needs of passionflower |
| The plant grows poorly, does not bloom | Acid soil | |
| Weak flowering | Many old shoots in the absenceyoung | Pruning |
If you are attentive to the plant, then passiflora blue will favorably take care at home, in the photo and in reality, delighting with its unusual flowering.
Fulfillment of desires, or Passiflora the sorceress
Passion flower is also interesting for its useful properties in the composition of medicines:
- calms (improves sleep, relieves nervousness and irritability);
- removes fever;
- normalizes hormonal levels;
- relieves cramps and rheumatic pains;
- reduces blood pressure;
- reduces addiction (alcohol, drugs).
It should be remembered that blue passionflower is poisonous, so you need to work with vines with gloves and with caution.
There is a belief that if you make a wish at the moment when the passion flower bud is blooming, then it will certainly come true. Truth or fiction, probably, is not so important, because blue passionflower has enough other virtues: beautiful appearance, modest requirements, longevity.
