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Daleys Fruit Tree Blog

Passion Flower



There is a lovely place in our orchard at the moment near the passionfruit vines. The aroma is the first thing that I notice as I near the trellis, there is a heady spicy scent in the air. I am then stopped in my tracks by these strikingly beautiful flowers which are produced in great numbers. We have the hybrid vines in the orchard these are a cross between the Giant Grandilla, Passiflora quadrangularis and the Sweet Lilikoi, Passiflora alata, both of which have equally beautiful flowers. It can be a little difficult to get them to set fruit and often hand pollination with a soft paint brush is the only way to ensure fruit set but they are worth the effort for their delicious fruits and are stunning if grown for the flowers alone. Picked flowers can be used in shallow saucers as table decorations or they are gorgeous when used to scent rooms with their magnificent fragrance, I often bring them up to the office to enjoy both the amazing complicated flower and the unusual perfume.

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KathAdd Your Comment (5)
Published: Kath ,Thursday, May 03, 2007

Passionfruit in South Australia

Kieren from Hillbank in South Australia sent us in some great photos of how to go about setting up a passionfruit vine.

A site which receives part sun and shade was selected
The wire mesh was added for the passionfruit to grow along
Bricks were layed to contain the soil
The passionfruit vine was planted

Kieren selected both the Passionfruit - Granadilla and the Panama Red. My guess is that because passionfruit are fast growers the wire mesh will will be covered with the vine in a few months.

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-Add Your Comment (2)
Published: - ,Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Passionfruit - Fast Growing

The passionfruit vine below is 1 year old and full of passionfruits. Simply by placing a trellace along the fence so that it can grow along the passionfruit will flourish in hot environments such as Queensland. There would at least be a hundred passionfruit ripening on this vine. I find that the large purple flowers appear for a day or two and then they form the fruit. You do need to be patient with the fruit because after appearing it takes a couple of months before they turn from green to purple. This passionfruit is a Passionfruit - Panama Red.

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Published: - ,Thursday, January 18, 2007

Passionfruit hybrid

Recently Les Jefferson from Harvey Bay hybridised a Passiflora quadrangularis with a Passiflora alata. He used pollen from the Granadilla to get his P. alata to set fruit, which was self infertile. He sent me seed of the resulting cross which I grew on and the picture is the resulting fruit. Smaller in size than the Giant Granadilla but with a very nice sweet flavour similar to the P. alata. Has anyone else tried to hybridise other passionfruit?

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GregAdd Your Comment (2)
Published: Greg ,Friday, May 26, 2006
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