And when they're through at your place, they can bring a backhoe to mine and dig up p. caerulea, 'Blue Bouquet', 'Incense', and the remains of 'Constance Elliott' that have taken over a large area of my yard. I love passionflowers, but some are much more hardy than advertised.

>>For some reason, I mistakenly believed the Seattle-area winters were milder than they apparently are Most people think the other way around--that it must be about as cold as northern Maine because of the latitude. The mountain ranges block most of the coldest interior weather, and the water offshore is warmed by the Japan current. My lows are probably higher than yours BUT...of longer duration! You probably get frosty nights followed by warmish days. We can get a week and a half of freezing weather here. The real problem tho is that the peak of our rainy season is late autumn early winter, meaning that a lot of plants have tissues that are saturated with water when the cold hits. I did have a look at Mr. Irvine's website. He's got descriptions of a lot of the newer hybrids, which is how I found it when I googled their names. You're right; the climate here is close enough to that of the UK that anything that does there does well here, and vice versa, with a few exceptions. My climate is slightly warmer but also slightly less equable, and the rainfall here is very seasonal, like a cooler version of a Mediterranean climate. I read your bio. Fruit and nut trees, eh? Well, I live in the city but I have a good-sized lot as city lots go, and I have squeezed in a mini-orchard. I'd love to grow nuts, too, but those are usually big trees, except for the Hazelnut/Filbert. It would be fun to grow a Gevuina--Chilean substitute for Macadamia nuts (same family, but a hardier Chilean version)--but I can't find any cultivars selected for big nuts and the default is hardly as big as a cherry pit. My fruits are Peaches, a Nectarine, an Apricot, a sweet Cherry, Strawberries (including a wild native, F. chilensis), Raspberries, Blackberries (including "Marionberries"), Black Currents, Gooseberries, and Arctic Beauty type Kiwis (they're better than the fuzzy kiwis, which also grow here). I technically have a "Pineapple Guava" (Feijoa sellowiana aka Acca sellowiana) but it got a bad case of Phythophthora last year and might not live much longer. Ugni molinae ("Strawberry Guavas" aka "Chilean Guavas") also got the Phyto and will need to be replaced. I think Passionfruits are probably a dream up here, but we'll see what I can come up with. P. carulea produces its fruits with abandon but they don't have enough pulp to bother with. Yes, it's too bad about the Tacsonias because I've heard they have the tastiest fruits. Judging from the posts I take it that a lot of the contributors here are amateur lepidoterists (sp?). I'm too far north for those kinds of butterflies; all we get here are common ones like Swallowtails, Angel Zephyrwings, and Cosmopolitans. Hmmm...I followed one link to another link and discovered we have another common interest. Pleased to "virtually meet" you.

I guess it would make sense with some of the hybrids. As for heat tolerance, this has been a rainy summer with afternoon showers quite often, probably cooled down some of those days in the nineties. I can say this summer did not affect the growth of any of my plants, but 'Lunametista' abruptly stopped flowering in August. 'Coral Seas' is still a very rampant grower and I've started cuttings that grow just as readily, no signs of flowers.

Hi I'm interested in the passion vine I'm looking for the maypop which is supposed to fruit. Do you have any idea if yours has put out fruit? What are you hoping to do give away or trade? Pls let me know thanks-Araceli