Saturday, March 16, 2013

A Loef in the Rough

Today I was at my local garden center looking for small plants for the front yard. I've been increasingly frustrated with the way it has turned out. I'm trying a new strategy now with a bunch of perennials/annuals. I ripped out the hibiscus and a moved a few plants around to get a better balance. Hopefully, things will shape up better.

The real story is that after checking out the section of the garden center that usually has the vines (just in case), I spied something out of place. It had deep purple buds and three-lobed leaves. I pulled the tag and discovered it was Passiflora loefgrenii! That was a nice surprise since loef isn't normally found at your average garden center. Anyway, I grabbed the best looking one, repotted it, and set it in the sun.

Now, will it be variant 'corupa' which sets fruit on almost every flower? Or, will it be variant 'iporanga' which almost never sets fruit? I should know pretty soon, but either way I have a potent pollen donor!



Update: After some scrutiny from the online experts, it appears that I have an 'iporanga' variant, but recent discussions have brought up some confusion since this plant bears lots of fruit.

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