Other Names:  Bluecrown Passion Flower

Description:

A spectacular vine for the garden; the large flowers are intricate and distinctive, with their cream petals adorned by a crown of sky blue filaments; wonderful for covering an arbor, trellis or lattice, the flowers are amazing to view close up

Ornamental Features

Blue Crown Passion Flower features showy lightly-scented creamy white star-shaped flowers with burgundy eyes and sky blue anthers at the ends of the branches from early summer to early fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. It has dark green deciduous foliage. The glossy compound leaves do not develop any appreciable fall color.

Landscape Attributes

Blue Crown Passion Flower is a multi-stemmed deciduous 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 is a good choice for attracting bees and butterflies to your yard. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Blue Crown Passion Flower is recommended for the following landscape applications;

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

Planting & Growing

Blue Crown 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 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. This plant does not require much in the way of fertilizing once established. 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 is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Blue Crown 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.