Grow exotic-looking passion flowers up trellis or pergolas to enhance your summer garden – check individual varieties for hardiness
'The flowers start to appear in early summer, continuing over a long season until autumn.'
Passion flowers
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| Passiflora 'Amethyst'
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Passion flowers (
Passiflora) are ideal climbers for a warm, sunny trellis or pergola. Only a few are hardy enough to endure low winter temperatures outside, although with global warming who knows? The large flowers, with an intricate centre surrounded by coloured filaments, bring a touch of the exotic to the garden. The hardier types are quite vigorous, usually evergreen, and attach to their support by extremely efficient coiling tendrils.
The flowers start to appear in early summer, continuing over a long season until autumn. The many yellow, plum-shaped fruits are edible in the sense that they can be used for jam-making, rather than eaten as a fresh fruit. Passiflora 'Amethyst' (right) and Passiflora 'Incense' will tolerate temperatures down to 0°C, but many of the more tender forms will be better off in a conservatory.
New variety – 'White Lightening'
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| Passiflora 'White Lightening'
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'I first saw
Passiflora 'White Lightning' at a trade show in 2005,' says
Gardens Monthly magazine contributor Jean Stowe. 'Limited numbers were around last year – now more will be available in garden centres this summer.
Bred from Passiflora caerulea, 'White Lightning' is deemed to be free-flowering, to produce large fruits and to have much better foliage than Passiflora caerulea 'Constance Elliot.
'Plant against a warm wall – it is hardy to about -5°C. A specimen in a 3-litre pot should cost about £12.99.'
denotes Subscriber-only content | Thursday 21 August 2008 | Help | Glossary 
