Passiflora Cirrhiflora in Bloom!

It finally happened the day after my first original hybrid opened. Passiflora cirrhiflora opened early on a Monday morning that I happened to be taking off from work. I was up early to catch it beginning to open. The yellow inside was mimicking the sunrise, and when I inspected it after an hour more of sleep, it was open in full glory. There's not much more to say that wouldn't be gilding the passie.

Whip it in the Bud

It's the middle of August. It's not exceptionally warm, but the sun is still high, and the days are still long. Despite this it seems to be taking forever for my two most anticipated buds to open. One is, of course, is P. cirrhiflora. It has several large and small buds on it, but the largest of all is shaping up and beginning to show color through the sepals. That seems like a good sign, but I know that if I hold my breath in hopes that it opens this weekend - I'll pass out. The other is my hybrid, potentially my first to be registered and named. So, that's big for me, and it could be special beyond that and have potential collector value. I'd be perfectly happy with the first of these attributes. I have no clue when that will open, but it may be on the same day as P. cirrhiflora, which would make for one great day to be sure.

Big Red

The highlight summer for the last two seasons has been seeing P. x decaisnea in bloom. The first one opened today, and I took a few dozen pictures in the early marine layer haze.

Passiflora Inventora

Container 1:

• P. holosericea 
• P. 'Manta' (xiikzodz × coriacea) 
• P. foetida 'urbaniana' 

Container 2:

• P. parritae 

Container 3:

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

Container 4:

• P. racemosa 'buzios' 
• P. × belotii (alata x caerulea) 

Container 5:

• P. x 'exoniensis' (antioquiensis × tripartita var. mollissima) 

Container 6:

• P. 'Sunburst' (gilbertiana × jorullensis) 

Container 7:

• P. trisecta 

Container 8:

• P. 'Raspberries and Cream' (gritensis x subpeltata)

Container 9:

• P. cirrhiflora 

Container 10:

• P. loefgrenii 

Container 11:

• P. membranacea 

Container 12:

• P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' x 'Blue Bouquet' 
• P. actinia x (sidifolia x actinia) 
• P. glandulosa 

Container 13:

• P. nephrodes 

Container 14:

• P. serrato-digitata 
• P. luzmarina x ? 
• P. matthewsii 

Container 15:

• P. Donna Brigham ( ? x pinnatistipula) 

In the Ground:

• P. tarminiana 
• P. edulis flavicarpa 

Little pots for little plants

• P. gritensis 
• P. tarminiana 'alba' 
• P. lindeniana 
• P. tulae 
• P. umbilicata 
• P. morifolia 
• P. sidifolia x (miersii x kermensia) 
• P. Mission Dolores 
• P. Mission Dolores x antioquiensis
• P. macrocarpa
• P. Cherry Tart (cupraea x (P. yucatanensis and P. biflora))
• P. subrotunda

Collage

I collected lots of pollen today by cutting down the blooms that emerged. Prior to neutering all of them, although they were already decapitated, I made a little collage.

Donna Brigham the Raspberries and Cream

Today I was at the nursery again. [Cue dramatic music] I found P. Donna Brigham and P. Raspberries and Cream. I had to Google 'DB' and it looked like a very nice Tacsonia on my phone in the bright sunlight of early August. Just adjacent to that one was Raspberries and Cream, an obvious P. gritensis hybrid. Yep, I had to have that too. They both are in the front yard where P. Coral Sea drowned. I changed the pots to ones with holes in the bottom. I am rapidly running out of space. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to make some hard decisions soon if this coming Autumn and Winter don't do it for me. Either that, or I need to figure out how to upside my yard, which I think means moving. I enjoy this hobby too much to just stop collecting.

As soon as Donna Brigham blooms...it did!

One Month to Matthewsii

One of my recent acquisitions was a little P. matthewsii in a 4" pot. Long story short, it bloomed about a month later. For a tacsonia that's a pretty good little plant. I'm definitely going to fold this one in to the gene pool. It's a perky little pink flower. Let the experimenting begin!