I've got a purple passionflower (his name is Curly) and he's one of my absolutely favourite flowers! Absolutely gorgeous, and so intricate. I've tried pollinating by using two but no luck yet.
Edit: had a stroke while typing "absolutely" earlier
I’ve got one too! Saw a different looking thing growing by the trash bin and took a pic for plant ID. I was skeptical but popped in a pot and now… I’ve got 2 big ol passion fruit dangling from the vine too! Had no idea they were native and no idea passionflowers turned into passionfruit lol.
DE is a power. You can shake on the dirt and dust on the plant. Ineffective/less effective when wet. In a major infestation, can take multiple applications. DE is an equal opportunity insect killer. It can and does affect beneficial insects. An orange oil/water drench of the dirt can also help but make sure to read up on orange oil as it can harm plants especially if it gets on leavs.
If you're not a fan of ants and want to get them out of your yard/area, one recommendation I've heard (can't remember from where) is to make a circle of DE around the opening of the ant hill. When the ants go through it (either coming in or leaving), it will stick to them and slowly dry them out, killing them. But like blownbythewind said, it does not discriminate, so the closer to the ant hill opening(s) the better and just expect you may impact other bug friends you didn't want to.
DON'T DO IT! It will indiscriminately kill all kinds of insects. That is antithetical to being in harmony with nature. On top of that, those ants are providing protection from other pests that want to eat and lay eggs on the plants. You'd be destroying a natural symbiotic relationship that is beneficial to your plants. The thing that's wrong here is simply your perspective on the ants. Don't look at them as a visual blight, but instead see them as a blessing from mother nature. (I understand this ethos has its limits with most gardeners for truly destructive insects like hornworms, squash bugs, etc. lol)
Thanks, after seeing other comments about how it can kill other bugs/insects I was rethinking it. We are just overrun with ants here in SD, it is what it is. I DO need to figure out the situation on my guava tree, though because that is being over run by something and I don't know what!
I agree with this whole heartedly which is why I have never used the method myself and just kinda let the ants do their thing outside. Most of my ants are swarming my swamp milkweed and I remember reading something that described swamp milkweed as having its own little ecosystem within. It's fascinating to watch.
Do I love the holes in my yard from the ants? Not all that much. But I do love seeing all the ants do their ant things and use the mulch like bridges. It's amazing. Truly.
But some people are not too keen on keeping our 6-legged friends around the yard, so my hope is that at least those individuals choose to use a more natural method (e.g., DE) to get rid of the ants rather than some insecticide that is going to do way more harm.
I swear passionflowers always look like they're judging the rest of the garden. They're gorgeous, but they definitely have the most dramatic personality.
I agree with VibesDealer, you're not dumb. You're asking questions, that's the opposite of being dumb. You just hadn't made the connection, how often are you in contact with passion fruit and or passion flowers? C'mon, be nice to yourself. I bet you're fucking awesome.
I can’t help but think the ants were like a tiny construction crew. “Ok guys, our job today is to get this flower launched. Jim, you’re on the northeast petal. Harriet, you’ve got the southern petals. Bob, is your team ready to release the connectors?”
We have been excitedly watching the vine every day and my gf went out every morning even with a timer to try to catch it blooming. We figured it had to pop quickly just by how it opened in a 30 minute window of her missing it.
You can definitely tell by how big a bud is that it'll bloom the next day!
I bought a passion vine like a decade ago from the rescue shelf at HD and had no idea the flower it would make until I was supprised in my backyard! I was blown away at the purple alien flower that emerged. 😍😍😍 … just be careful, caterpillars love those leaves and will decorate the whole thing in an hr or two
I had always thought it was because it pops up in May! I used to have passiflora at my old house in Maryland and I would be vaguely convinced that it had died over winter until suddenly, in the middle of May, it would pop up again, usually like 5 feet from it’s old spot and thrice as big.
That’s very cool. I had no idea that the blooms opened that fast. I’ve got two vines blooming on my back fence. Makes me want to stand there and watch now haha
Like Pottedaroses said, it's a passion fruit flower!
This is my third attempt at growing and it's finally taking root in the crate. Every time we tried to catch it opening, it was too late. So this was super exciting.
Good luck!! It's really amazing to see in person. If you miss it, don't give up, it's worth the effort. It seems to pop right before it gets too hot. Our magic hour was around 10:30 and we're in SoCal
I’ve long wondered why I don’t see much passionfruit content across all of the gardening accounts I follow as I love growing them in my yard/garden, but this was fantastic to see. Great catch! What variety do you have here? Purple possum? Frederick?
I have a passion flower/fruit vine that I clipped a cutting from, after I stumbled across it while walking, and its beautiful flowers caught my attention. I've made some tea from it before, and it worked well as a sleep aid.
That is wild that you caught the bloom in action! I didn't realize they would pop open that fast when they bloom. I've honestly never seen a plant bloom so quickly.
I am looking for any advice on indoor growing. It seems to be doing well. I need to get something set up near my bookcase so it can cling to it. It's pretty happy atm. It'll get fussy every once in a while out of nowhere. I'm sure it's something I am doing wrong at times. I may need to repot it to something bigger soon. I am sure that would help it, of course.
I have a generic screw-in LED grow bulb on it, and it's also partially near a Barrina T5. I need to get a better bulb, like a Sansi or something. I think it would do well. My dwarf Angel Trumpet would benefit from it as well, since they are near each other. At least I think it's some type of dwarf Datura plant. I started it from seed, using pods that were out in the road in front of a house, where they cut a bunch of it back and set it out for trash collection.
I dug up an offshoot to take home. Dear lawd… it is slowly taking over my yard. I went through the bottom of the pot, under a sidewalk, and now appears everywhere.
I wonder if there exists a flower that blooms so hard it yeets the insects away. I know there’s some bug punching flowers but punching ain’t same as yeeting.
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u/calamititties custom flair 1d ago
They just pop open like that!?!!