Hey Elly!!! Congrats on your seeds... There are two methods that have worked well for me.. The paper towel method~~ Wet a paper towel and wring out the excess water. Fold the seed inside the towel and place it in a plastic bag ..(I keep mine on the dryer under a towel...gets some heat when I do laundry) Check them regularly. After the seeds sprout just pop them in any good potting mix..and don't over water.. The other way I start them is to soak them for a couple of days in warm water (changed daily) them place them in a good potting mix and place them in a zip lock bag put them in a warm place...and wait..LOL I have some that were up in a couple of weeks and a few that took a couple of months and others I had totally given up on and pretty much forgot about..only to find little survivors that turned out to be some of the stronger plants... Good Luck Chena

It's hard to tell. Did you check the soil it's planted on? Perhaps the water isn't drying out and the roots are rotting. I would dig and see if the roots are intact, if the water is draining well, lay some of the vine and cover with soil, and possibly take a cutting and put in water to try to root.

Hello, I'm hoping to find some help with my Passion Flower. I leaves are spotting brown. You can find a picture here: http://imgur.com/fWZ71Xt http://imgur.com/3C4B0UE I've had my passion flower plant for 20+ years. I started to have problems a few months back. I've been racking my brain to see if I changed anything the plant would not like. Nothing comes to mind. I also have FlowerPower hooked up to the plant to help me figure out what I'm doing. Here is my routine: Fertilizer being used: MaxiGro (10-5-14) and MaxiBloom (5-15-14). Using as directed on bag with every watering. LED lit for 14 hours a day. Soil is a 30% water. I water when it gets down to 15% Temperature is 19C (66 F) at night and 22F (72F) during the day. I spray the leaves every few weeks with water. Humidity in the house is 35-40% Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Here is a link that might be useful: leaves

mickeymantle, you should just message Elizabeth Peters (or maybe her sister will respond) through the site on Grassy Knoll Exotics (http://gkplants.com/pages/contact). The site is set up now so sending a message is very easy. They are nice, helpful people, in Oregon City, OR, which I assume is also zone 8b. Elizabeth tends to be somewhat conservative as to her ratings of zones, but I imagine she is aware what people in her area have successfully grown outside. A lot of the Passifloras with hardiness past zone 9 are hybrids of P. incarnata or P. caerulea, so there are a lot with purple flowers, of some sort... P. caerulea 'Constance Eliott' is one variety that is hardier well past your zone, which is all white. There are others.... Wild Haired Mavens, you are lucky in that you are in climate where you can grow almost anything. The real exceptions are the truly tropical species (such as pure P. quadrangularis). You are actually probably borderline for some of the cool growers (like a lot of us). because you are not right on the coast. They thrive in places like San Francisco. Still, I bet you can grow must of them if given plenty of moisture, shade in the afternoon, etc. Most Passifloras can be grown and bloom in pots. Exceptions include P. membranacea, some of the biggest Tacsonias (P. parritae is one), and a few others. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find info on how big plants typically get. If you are looking for smaller ones, a good one might be P. elegans, which gets edible fruit (among the tastiest, I'm told) and is a nice looking plant out of bloom. I think most of its flowering is in the Spring, though. P. luzmarina, if you can find it, is another really nice, somewhat smaller plant. I assume the fruit it edible, but I also think it's not self-fertile. P. edulis has great tasting fruit, but the plant gets huge. Most of the Taconias will get pretty big. P. antioquiensis might be another one to try (in addition to its hybrid P. .'Mission Dolores') as it is not as big as some of its relatives, and it's self fertile (but not always self-pollinating--you need to help it with a paintbrush. Same is true of 'Mission Dolores'). For non-fruiting (or non-edible) plants, and interesting flowers and variegation, a couple really nice ones are P. 'Manta' and P.. 'Sunburst'. Both have very small, but very interesting flowers and interesting leaves, and do well in pots. Some people object to the smell of P. 'Sunburst', although I seems to be one of the many who doesn't notice it. There are a number with interesting leaves. I don't know if you can grow P. boenderi outside there all year--I would guess maybe not. P. trifasciata might be more likely . For fragrance, I understand P. mooreana, which is a smaller plant, is one of the best. There are related species, which are also supposed to be nice. Apparently the hybrid 'Chambord' (Jim Nevers, Passiflorista on Ebay) has a great fragrance. Eric Wortman and Crystal Stone have a hybrid 'Godiva' which they say smells like chocolate. That one is not in wide circulation yet. There are others. 'Preciosa' and a lot of that type of Passiflora have pretty amazing scents as well. If you don't want to just kill the caterpillars, a lot of people just have a plant they transfer all of the ones they see to. There are a lot of Passifloras that are really vigorous growers and can be used for that purpose--take your pick. You definitely don't want a caterpillar devouring a cutting--hopefully it's not too late.