PASSIFLORA caerulea

Vigorous evergreen climbing plant native to South America. With a fast growth, it can quickly rise and expand for several metres (even till 6/10 m). Thin, herbaceous and semi woody stems develop and branch from the base; they bring numerous tendrils allowing the plant to climb on any support. Leaves are of a bright green color, palmate and alternate. From late spring to the start of autumn, big flowers appear in the leaves' axil of the apical branches. They have a color between white-greenish and blu-liliac and are followed by ornamental orange berries.

It needs a sunny and bright position, otherwise its blooming could be poorer or even absent. It is suitable to any kind of soil but prefers the ones which are rich in humus, fertile and well drained: it doesn't tolerate water stagnations. On the contrary it tolerates drought, but in the hottest periods it benefits from regular irrigations which will improve the general aspect of the plant: between one watering and the next one, you should let the soil get dry. It doesn't tolerate the frost, so it's better to place this plant in a wind-sheltered place. in spring, after vegetative growth restart you could remove the damaged and disordered branches and shorten the longest ones in order to give this plant a thicker shape and to stimulate the next branching and blooming. It can be grown in pots or big containers which will be brought in sheltered places In winter in the coldest areas.