Always Belotii on My Mind

My first passiflora was the hybrid P. alata x P. caerulea called belotii, or alato-caerulea, or Pfordii. It's confusing, but that was before I delved into the passiflora societies and various informative webpages. Anyway, my first one flourished very well, which is what encouraged me to acquire all kinds of other species. As I've said before, the Decoloba subgenus hasn't done well due to the pesticides that I've been forced to use. But, the others all do very well with my mild "weather" here in Redondo Beach, CA. Sadly, after that first season, the spider mites had already done their damage and I wasn't able to save it in time. Ever since then, I've had the pest situation under control (which isn't to say that I don't have to fight them almost daily). So, now in memory of my first plant that sparked my interest I think it's time to get another belotii.

Pergola-tory Conserva-tory

I forgot to write about this, but Passiflora parritae (along with 'Mission Dolores' which is a parritae x antioquiensis hybrid and a replacement for cyanea) and nephrodes arrived from Grassy Knoll!!! The story goes that it's extinct in the wilds of Colombia and that the parent clone plant of all the available (rarely available) plants thrives in San Francisco at the botanical garden with the same name. (Note to self: find parent plant when I eventually visit the Andean cloud forest there). They say the town that the San Francisco plant's parent is from was bulldozed, so until someone finds another wild plant I am doing my part in continuing the species! That's kinda neat. And, allegedly it will do very well here in Redondo Beach where the temperatures don't climb beyond 80°F nor dip below 50°F all year long. Maybe in a few summers I'll have some peachy-pumpkin colored blossoms danging down from the pergola. I can't wait!

So here's this summer's inhabitants:

Container 1:

•     P. holosericea 
•     P. 'Manta'
• xiikzodz × coriacea
•     P. 'Jennifer Grace'
• quadriglandulosa × poslae

 Container 2:

•     P. parritae
•     P. 'Mission Dolores'
• parritae × antioquiensis 

  Container 3:

• P. alata
• P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' 
• (incarnata × edulis) × (incarnata × cincinnata)
• P. 'Lady Margaret' 
• coccinea × incarnata
• P. 'Saphire'
• edulis × caerulea

Container 4:

• P. 'Blue Boquet' 
• ((amethystina × caerulea) × (amethystina × caerulea)) × caerulea
• P. 'Moniker Fischer' 
• (incarnata ×  amethystina)4n × (kermesina x caerulea)4n
• P. 'Star of Surbiton' 
• 'Amethyst' × caerulea
• P. racemosa

Container 5:

• P. 'Exoniensis'
• antioquiensis × tripartita var. mollissima (aka tarminiana)
• P. 'Warmlands'
• vitifolia × macrocarpa
• P. nephrodes

Container 6:

•     P. 'Sunburst'
• gilbertiana × jorullensis

And because I have a passiflora problem...

Container 7:

•     P. × belotii

Container 8:

•     P. antioquiensis
•     P. trisecta

Blue Monday...Not!

Today I returned from work and after inspecting Pergola-tory for a few minutes discovered, to my delight, that a new passiflora was in bloom! 'Blue Bouquet' opened up! Though that hybrid is prolific bloomer given sunny conditions, it wasn't until today that it opened up for the first time this year. Because it's mixed in with P. racemosa, 'Monika Fischer', and 'Star of Surbiton' in a single large pot, I wasn't even sure it had survived the mite attack. But, now I see that it had survived to climb to the top of the pergola and bloom first of all the others! Now that it's up there and June gloom (as it's commonly referred to in Southern California) is nearly over, I expect fireworks!

Update: I just returned from a business trip and I found 'Lady Margaret' opened for the first time this year too. And, 'Blue Bouquet' is popping open everywhere just as I expected. 'Blue-eyed Susan' continues to impress.

The Trouble with Thrips

It was the mites last year. I was able to kill them all with some miticide, but not after some casualties. This year, there were thrips. It took me awhile to figure out what was causing the general chlorosis on some of my passiflora, and then I saw a couple of them skulking about on the newest growth. So it was back to the poison. I think I got them because the chlorosis has stopped, and since they were slightly less devastating, most of the plants have fully recovered. I do think that I've lost P. sanguinolenta. It gave me two blossoms before the pesticides burned it up. Nevertheless, I have some new blossoms from some of the other inhabitants, and the best part of all is that the leaves are looking healthy and large.

Manta Ray of Sunshine

I've been excited for this one to open for a few days now. Passiflora 'Manta' has the smallest passion flowers in Pergola-tory, and today the first one opened which makes for the second of the new arrivals to bloom. Now, if I could just get some height on it, the I'd have some shade this summer!