Out of everything in my garden, the local bees love my maypops (passionfruit) the most. It’s not uncommon to see three or four of them competing for the same flower. Some days I find hundreds of bees and wasps on the vine at a time.
I planted two more vines earlier this year, so hopefully next year I see some actual fruit instead of the flowers falling off after maturing.
7 Comments
Nautalax@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 15h
That’s awesome! I planted maypop seeds last winter and got some seedlings but then the sky forgot to rain for basically the whole spring so they died without proceeding any further. I did just recently find out that I have another native cousin of it called Passiflora lutea hiding behind a bush and near my watering hose, though I only see leaves and little clinging vines and no flowers. Not quite as spectacular but I’ll take it.
skooma_king@piefed.social · 3 pts · 14h
I thought one of my new vines died this summer during a dry period that I also forgot to water during. It came back about a week later after we got some rain.
pomegranatefern@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 15h
Ooh, how has your Maypop growing experience been, and do you mind specifying your growing zone? I just finally bought some Northern Maypop seeds that came back in stock and I'm really excited for them next year.
skooma_king@piefed.social · 4 pts · 14h
I’m zone 9a. Coastal southeast US. Very sandy soil. This thing grows with zero effort. I massively cut it back every fall and it grows back stronger every year. Not sure the specific variety.
pomegranatefern@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 13h
Nice! Definitely warmer than my zone, though, so you probably don't have much in the way of wintering advice. Northern Maypop is supposed to be cold hardy enough for at least zone 7, though, so I'm hoping I can get it overwintered in zone 6.
skooma_king@piefed.social · 3 pts · 13h
Yeah not much advice as far as wintering. Instinctively, I’d prune back and cover in several inches of mulch. They really don’t mind being cut back, so you could potentially cover with plastic during really cold spells.
pomegranatefern@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 7h
Good advice, thank you!