Written by Byron Martin, Logee's Owner and Horticulturalist
A Tropical Look for Cold Climates
- Extreme Cold Hardiness: Roots can survive winter temperatures down to -5°F (USDA Zone 5).
- Tropical Fragrance and Beauty: Produces large, intricate purple and white flowers with a lovely scent.
- Edible Fruit: Known as the Maypop, it produces tasty yellow-orange fruits.
- Fast Growth: A vigorous vine that can cover a trellis in a single season.
If you live in the north but dream of a tropical garden, the Hardy Maypop Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata) is the perfect plant for you. This vigorous vine brings the tropical look of the jungle right to your backyard, even in New England! It is one of the most exciting plants we offer because it defies the expectations of what a hardy vine can do. While most passion flowers need to be brought inside for the winter, Passiflora incarnata is tough enough to handle freezing winters outdoors.
One distinct quirk of this plant is that it is a late sleeper. In the spring, when your tulips and daffodils are blooming, your Hardy Maypop Passion Flower will still be asleep underground. Don't worry—it hasn't died! It is simply waiting for the soil to warm up. Once it emerges, usually in late May or June, it grows incredibly fast, making up for lost time with vines that can reach 20 feet in a year.
Hardy Maypop Passion Flower FAQs
- Question: Is it safe to leave the Hardy Maypop Passion Flower outside in winter?
Answer: Yes! In zones 5-11, the roots are hardy down to about -5°F. The vines will die back, but the roots survive. - Question: Why is my plant taking so long to sprout in the spring?
Answer: Passiflora incarnata loves heat. It is one of the very last perennials to wake up, often not appearing until June. Patience is key!
Where to Plant Your Hardy Maypop Passion Fruit Vine
To get the most blooms and the best fruit, you need to treat your Passiflora incarnata to a sunny spot. This vine loves the sun and needs at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight every day. If you plant it in the shade, you might get a lot of green leaves, but you won't see as many of those spectacular flowers.
Because this plant is a fast grower, it needs a good support system. It is a climbing vine that uses little tendrils to grab onto things. You should plant it next to:
- A sturdy trellis
- A chain-link fence
- A wall with horizontal wires installed
- A stonewall
A south-facing wall is often the best location because the wall holds heat, which helps the plant survive the winter and wake up earlier in the spring. Passiflora incarnata thrives in all types of soil, from well-draining, loamy soil that is rich in organic matter to poor, low-nutrient soil.
The Flowers of the Hardy Maypop Passion Flower
Gardeners fall in love with the blooms on the Hardy Maypop Passion Flower. Each bloom looks almost unreal, with layers of petals and filaments in shades of lavender, purple, white, and hints of blue. The flowers can be 3 to 4 inches across and have a light, sweet fragrance that attracts bees and other pollinators.
Blooms usually begin in early to mid-summer and continue through late summer if the plant is happy. Flowers open for a single day, but the vine produces them steadily over many weeks. These striking blooms are not only ornamental—they are also essential for fruit production, as each flower has the potential to become a maypop fruit.
Hardy Maypop Passion Fruit: Flavor, Texture, and Taste
After flowering, the Hardy Maypop Passion Fruit Vine produces round to oval fruits about the size of a small plum or golf ball. Inside the fruit is a fragrant, jelly-like pulp filled with crunchy black seeds. The flavor is tropical and complex: sweet, tangy, and slightly musky, often milder in flavor to commercial passion fruit. The pulp is edible, seeds and all, and is especially refreshing on a hot summer day. The fruit is ripe once the skin is crinkly and soft.
How to Use Hardy Maypop Passion Fruit
Hardy Maypop Passion Fruit can be enjoyed in a variety of ways:
- Eaten fresh straight from the fruit
- Scooped into yogurt, smoothies, or fruit salads
- Used to flavor drinks, syrups, or cocktails
- Cooked down into jams, jellies, or sauces
Because the flavor is aromatic and slightly tart, it pairs well with citrus, berries, and honey. Not every vine fruits heavily every year, but when conditions are right, the harvest is a fun bonus to an already beautiful plant.
A Brief History of the Hardy Maypop Passion Flower
Passiflora incarnata is native to the southeastern United States and has been growing wild long before European settlement. Indigenous peoples used various parts of the plant for food and traditional remedies.
Early European settlers were fascinated by the unusual flowers and gave the genus its name, Passiflora, believing the flower’s structure symbolized elements of the Passion of Christ. Unlike many tropical passion flowers, this species evolved to survive cold winters by dying back to the ground, a trait that makes it uniquely suited to temperate climates today.
Watering and Feeding for Success
During the summer, your Hardy Passion Flower is going to be very thirsty and hungry. It is doing a lot of work growing those long vines and big flowers! You should water the plant freely during the growing season. Aim to give it about 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week. The goal is to keep the soil moist, like a wrung-out sponge, but not soaking wet.
Feeding is just as important as watering. If you want a lot of flowers, apply a mild, balanced fertilizer starting in the spring. Be careful not to use a fertilizer that is too high in nitrogen, or you will get a giant leafy monster with no blooms. If you are growing your Passiflora incarnata in a pot, you will need to water and feed it more often because nutrients wash out of pots quickly.
Pruning and Managing Growth of the Hardy Maypop Passion Fruit Vine
Since this vine is so vigorous, pruning helps keep it looking tidy and encourages more flowers. Flowers grow on new growth, so you don't have to worry about cutting off old wood. Here is a simple guide to pruning:
- Spring Cleanup: In early spring, cut away any dead vines from the previous year. You can also trim back foliage damaged by cold winds.
- Annual Pruning: You can prune annually to shorten old stems and keep the plant within its boundaries.
- Renovation: If your vine gets completely out of control after a few years, you can cut the stems back to about 1 or 2 feet from the base. This gives the plant a fresh start, though you might see fewer flowers that specific year.
Pollination, Pests, and Overwintering
Cross Pollinating the Passion Flower
In order for the Maypop Passion Flower to set fruit, the flowers need to be cross pollinated. This can be done with another passiflora incarnata clone, or with a passiflora caerulea such as 'Blue Bahama'. Even though the bumblebees or carpenter bees will naturally pollinate them, it's best to hand-pollinate them so you ensure that cross pollination is taking place.
Managing Pests on the Maypop Passion Flower
Like many garden plants, the Hardy Passion Flower can attract some bugs. Keep an eye out for aphids, spider mites, or caterpillars. Usually, you can wash these off or use a gentle insecticidal soap. Interestingly, this plant is a host plant for butterfly larvae, so don't be too surprised if you see caterpillars munching on the leaves—they turn into beautiful butterflies!
Winter Care for the Hardy Maypop Passion Flower
If you live in a cold area (Zone 5 or 6), giving your plant a little winter coat helps ensure it comes back. Apply a 2-3 inch layer of mulch, like leaves or wood chips, around the base of the plant. This acts like a blanket for the roots. Just make sure the mulch isn't piled right up against the stem, which can cause rot.
If you are growing your plant in a container, the roots are more exposed to the cold. You should move the pot indoors before it freezes. You can let the plant go dormant in a cool, dark basement and water it just once a month, or keep it growing in a sunny window as a houseplant until spring returns.
