Plant Library

Other Names:  Red Granadilla

Description:

A spectacular vine for the garden; the large flowers are showy and distinctive, with their bright red color; wonderful for covering an arbor, trellis or lattice; the flowers are individually beautiful close up

Ornamental Features

Red Passion Flower features showy lightly-scented scarlet star-shaped flowers with white eyes and buttery yellow anthers at the ends of the branches from early summer to early fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has emerald green foliage with grayish green undersides. The serrated pointy compound leaves do not develop any appreciable fall color.

Landscape Attributes

Red Passion Flower is a multi-stemmed deciduous tropical plant with a ground-hugging 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 tropical plant, and is best cleaned up in early spring before it resumes active growth for the season. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Red Passion Flower is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• Hedges/Screening
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

This plant is native to the tropics and prefers growing in moist environments with evenly warm conditions all year round. In our climate, it is usually grown as an outdoor annual in the garden or in a container. If you want it to survive the winter, it can be brought in to the house and provided with special care, and then returned to the garden the following season. In its preferred tropical habitat, as a shrub it can grow to be around 12 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. However, when grown as an annual or when overwintered indoors, it can be expected to perform quite differently, and its exact height and spread will depend on many factors; you may wish to consult with our experts as to how it might perform in your specific application and growing conditions.

This tropical plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. To help this plant achive its best flowering performance, periodically apply a flower-boosting fertilizer from early spring through into the active growing season. 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.

Red 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.