Types of Passion Flower That Grow on Vines

Frost-Tolerant Passion Fflowers

• Wild passion flower vine (Passiflora incarnata) inhabits sandy, moist soils across much of the Southeastern United States. Equally content in full sun or partial shade, the vine produces dark green foliage and purple-stamened, fringe-petaled white blooms from early summer to early fall. Oval, yellow autumn fruit follows. Wild passion flower develops a woody stem in warm winter climates. Where temperatures drop below freezing, it dies back in the winter and reemerges in spring. The tendriled 6- to 8-foot, climber survives to U.S. Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zone 5 and minus 20 F. Native to Brazil, blue passion flower (Passiflora caerulea) tolerates winter temperatures to zero F. The up to 30-foot vine has lobed, glossy green foliage. Its spring-and-summer white flowers have purple, white-ringed centers and showy, pale blue stamens. They give way to bright orange fruit.

Red Passion Flowers

• Two red South American passion flower vines produce edible fruit. Red grenadilla (P. coccinea) grows as much as 12 feet high. Lobed green foliage covered with soft reddish down lines its red to purple stems. This passion flower produces 3- to 5-inch wide, bright red flowers with white, pale pink and purple centers. Yellow or orange fruits follow its midsummer-to-autumn blooms. Red passion flower (P. racemosa), from Rio de Janeiro, grows from 10 to 30 feet. Its 5-inch bowl-shaped red blooms cascade in clusters of as many as 12 down stems of glossy, lobed green leaves. Its green fruits measure up to 3 inches long. The purple-and-white-centered blossoms appear through the summer and fall. These vines are respectively hardy to 25 and 35 degrees F.

Yellow Passion Flowers

• Former Missouri Botanical garden conservatory manger John MacDougal, Ph. D., discovered Passiflora citrina in Central America's moist pine forests in 1989. It produces small yellow-green hummingbird-attracting flowers. Where winter temperatures remain above 40 F, or in conservatory settings, this vine flowers from March to December. Passion flower cultivar "Golden Jubilee," the result of a 1999 cross between P. citrina and P. capsularis, has white-mottled green foliage and pale yellow, faintly scented flowers.

Variegated-Foliage Passion Flowers

• A shade-loving vine of the Upper Amazon forests, Passiflora trifasciata produces modest white summer flowers. Three-lobed leaves with white-and-pink-striped midribs are its chief ornamental feature. This heat-loving passion flower suffers at temperatures below 45 degrees F. Native to the Costa Rican highlands, Passiflora gilbertiana has narrow, shieldlike green foliage with random yellow speckling. Its bright yellow, 1-inch blooms open from July to October. This vine tolerates temperatures to 32 F, and possibly lower.