Smells of Cinnamon

P. porphyretica var. angustata fresh from the plant sale at South Coast Botanical Garden bloomed today. I can hardly take credit from raising it to bloom, but I can sure revel in sharing the image. It's only too bad that virtual smell technology has yet to be invented, because this little gem smells like cinnamon. I hope next season several flowers open at once so that I can have the smell wafting through my screen door.

Memorial Day Sale

My best friend and I went to the local botanical garden about 15 minutes south of where I live. I had been at Strybing earlier this month, and I already had the itch to go see more Passiflora. Having been to South Coast Botanical Garden once before, I knew there was a green house loaded with Decalobas and one rogue P. caerulea trying to choke out the intentional vegetation. But last time I was there, very little was in bloom. I wanted to see if this time of year would be different.

Just inside the front gate after checking in I noticed there were some plants for sale. Each had little placards with a picture and the name of the genus and species. The first one that I saw was P. trisecta. I remember saying something to the effect of, "oh hey, trisecta, I have that one." Then, as my eyes fell on more of the selection I realized that two folding tables were full of Passiflora! I don't think I said anything, but if I did it was probably something like, "look!"

Needless to say, I spent a good while checking every tag while I decided which lucky little plants would be coming home with me. My friend counted 19 species, and I purchased 6 of those, including:

• P. penduliflora
• P. karwinskii
• P. guatemalensis
• P. tucumanensis
• P. porphyretica var. angustata
• P. misera

Having checked out with my new additions, I purchased a membership, and regrouped to begin what we had come to the garden to do. But first! there were several gulf fritillary butterflies hovering around a bush near the main gate. If I ever get to hunt for species in the wild, I know to follow these buggers. They're notorious Passiflora pests. They seem to lay their eggs almost exclusively on the Passiflora greenery. In fact there was a little caterpillar on one of the plants that I purchased (that my best friend kindly returned to the garden). The butterflies were flirting with a vine that was coming up from an apparently extensive root system. I couldn't make out the species or cultivar from the wilted flowers, but one of the shoots found its way into my camera bag, so hopefully I'll find out eventually.

We eventually did make it into the garden a little later than we had planned. The greenhouse was the necessary stop, and we found it groomed since our last visit. But, there were only two Passiflora in bloom there: P. 'Amethyst' and P. capsularis. The rest were laden with buds, which means that I'll have to make good use of my new membership and revisit later this season when I think they're opening based on my own plants.

Made in (for) the Shade

I've had a shade cloth hung on some bamboo poles to keep my P. gritensis and P. bicuspidata from frying in the sun. It served the intended purpose, but it looked a little too ... rugged. So, I purchased some 1/2" diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe, a few connectors, some clamps, and constructed myself what looks like a misshapen hockey goal. But, it's properly tidy and removable after the sun retreats back to the south during the fall and winter months.

Farmer's Market Monster

My best friend went to the farmer's market last year (as she is prone to do), and picked up a few passion fruits. She knows that if she bumps into anything that is Passiflora related; buy it. We enjoyed the fruit and saved a number of the seeds. I decided to plant some, pick the strongest seedling, and let it climb up the block wall and fence behind my house.

That was last year. This year the P. edulis has grown over the fence and is growing monster leaves. There are no signs of buds for flowers and subsequently fruit, but I'm going to have to check both sides of the fence come late summer to make sure I can collect what deliciousness that may sprout. Three months of summer coming right up!

San Francisco Treats, Part 3

My first day in San Francisco was exhausting, but a total success. I had been teased about the pitiful number of plants that I had purchased; two, but the trip was more about meeting the people with whom I had been conversing with online. In that regard, day one was a complete success.

Day two started late. I slept in to rest my feet and legs and generally just recover from yesterday's whirlwind. After a slow start, I took a ride from downtown to Berkeley to visit a close friend's collection (and family). His space was a little larger than mine and his collection a lot more mature and numerous (albeit desiccated from a recent heat wave.) Open flowers weren't readily available, but the breadth of his collection was evident and impressive. At his home, I picked up a score of seeds before taking a quick road tour of the local plants.

A few fences were adorned with Tacsonias, but the most impressive stop was a home with a mature P. parritae covering the side yard. There weren't any buds to be seen, but imagining it full of blossoms was easy to do. But, after missing the P. parritae in Strybing as well, I knew I had to come back to see this species in bloom in person soon. Of course, there are also all of my new friends and their collections to visit too. I'll have to wait until next year.

San Francisco Treats, Part 2

After making my rounds inside the botanical garden, I headed out to where I found a small group of people lined up for the members only plant sale. I had a guest pass gifted to me by one of my new Passiflora friends. I was prepared to wait outside the gates with my sticker on my shirt until a pair of other Passiflora friends emerged from the adjacent building. They ushered me inside, handed me a plate of treats, and a plastic cup of red wine. I met the whole bunch of Passiflora fanatics and spent the whole hour prior to the sale talking about plants; in person!!

Once the doors to the sale started there was a mad dash. The cactus and succulent people headed to their table. The protea people headed to theirs. And, of course, I headed with my small group to the Passiflora table. The plants there were larger than I anticipate, but within the first minute I was able to snag a small P. antioquiensis. It looked like that was all that I would fly home to LAX from SFO with in my suitcase, but after speaking to one of the curators, I found myself holding another plant. One rare P. bicuspidata was more or less gifted to me. I'm not sure why I deserved it, but I was all too happy to accept the gift nonetheless.

After the sale, we stumbled through the wind back to our cars. One of my friends offered to store my plants in his while we went to dinner, and on our way I spotted something pink hanging in the roadside trees along the park. It was some Tacsonia that looked like P. tarminiana. I snapped off a length about 4 feet long and stored it my my purchased Passiflora in the car. Dinner was as loud as it was flavorful as we liberally discussed plants in a small reverberate room for a couple of hours.

After flying to San Francisco in the morning, walking Strybing Botanical Garden for hours, chatting and shopping, and a satisfying dinner, I was ready to end day one in Norcal.

San Francisco Treats, Part 1

This last weekend I spent in San Francisco. The trip was planned so that I could tour the San Francisco botanical garden in Golden Gate Park, purchase plants at the 47th annual garden sale, and meet some of the fantastic people that I've met through the Passiflora Online Facebook group. I flew up on the morning of Friday, May 2, took BART downtown, hopped in a Lyft driver's car, and paid my admission to the botanical garden.

I walked the grounds for 4 hours straight. I paid special attention to the fences where most of the Passiflora were located. I only had my point and shoot camera, so my pictures aren't the best, but it was fun to document all of my finds. Of particular interest was P. membranacea. There were two of those, once by the main gate, and one in the back of the garden climbing several stories up into the trees and showing blooms from a distance. P. matthewsii 'alba', P. x exoniensis, and P. tarminana were among the Tacsonia in bloom (including one outside the garden from which I snipped a cutting). P. x violacea, P. loefgrenii x P. caerulea, and one other yet undetermined Passiflora were also in blooming in curious locations on the grounds. Each time I "discovered" a Passiflora vine, I had spotted the leaves first. In fact, the only way I found the P. membranacea in the rear of the garden was from the fallen leaves underfoot.

There were plenty of other plants in bloom even though early May was clearly not "prime time" for flowers. However, the Rhododendrons, Peonies, Brugmansia, and Protea were all showing off. My legs and feet were plenty tired after four hours of wandering around, but there was more excitement to come...