Hiya, I can only respond to 1 and 3... no horses here ;)
I have the Passiflora incarnata and just love it--is this the one? It does love full sun and goes crazy in the summer. It will probably die back in the winter in your zone. It does in mine and comes back from the roots. But someone else might be able to answer to its hardiness where you live. The caterpillars don't kill the plant. It is a butterfly magnet, which just makes it all the more beautiful, in my opinion. Mine is usually covered in gulf fritillaries but it hosts other butterflies. When the vine gets big enough their caterpillars will munch on leaves but not enough to notice once it covers the whole gate, which it just might do in one summer. It is fast-growing. Also, fungicide is for plant mildews and such. Hope that helps! It is a beautiful vine!!

Here is a link that might be useful: purple passionflower at the wildflower center

Yes this helps a lot. Thank you for the link too. I thought the butterfly-magnet-and-munching is way cool, not a problem that I could see (but wondering why she thought it was...like, ok, what am I missing here?). Glad it likes full sun because we have a lot of that in the Ft Worth area.

Thanks Ruthie

I love these vines. I know the passion flower herb is used as a treatment for neurological disorders and it seems every where I look there's another food product marketed with passion fruit or passion flower in the name.

Keep them wet for a while until they get happy in their new home. I'm a new fan of caerula. It's evergreen for us in the DFW area.

IMHO theres not a whole lot of plants easier to take care of than PV. Full sun, no water, they don't seem to mind. Mine are all from wild plants.

I've got one and it gets huge and covers a large area. It'll grow under ground and come up several feet away. I have it in trees, on shrubery, everywhere. There have been times when I imagine I had 100 blooms on it. You'll love it! The butterflies are an added bonus.

Not toxic to horses
Full sun, it will go to full sun, ours covered the pecan tree prior to Ike.
Not salt tolerant
Perennial
Caterpillars will eat to bare stems but the plant will recover and bloom heavier. Mine would have no leaves and be loaded with flowers, which the caterpillars also eat.
The butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and wasps will enjoy the flowers.
You'll have plenty to share with your friends and family.
We planted several post-Ike/pre-fire and they are doing great. We have cats!
Edible fruit on several types, another bonus!
Tally HO!

Does anyone know when to collect seeds? I went for a walk this morning and found a giant mound of passion vine blooming away in a nearby field. This area will likely be developed soon so I'm going back later to see if I can acquire a bit of it. I read that you can root cuttings, so will try that first. It does have fruits, so thought I would collect seed also if possible.

It's growing out of a small opening in rock, so transplanting is out.

try both! Make sure the seed is mature or it won't work. PJ

Thanks PJ

I have already put some cuttings in to root. I will keep an eye on the fruits for seed.

I wish mine would bloom. I wish mine would bloom. I wish mine would bloom. I wish mine would bloom. I wish mine would bloom. I wish mine would bloom.

I was at a nursery today and watched a gulf fritillary lay eggs on all their stock. hehehe :) They sure like to lay on the tendrils.

I planted passiflora Foetida from seed of the ripe fruit about 3 summers ago. I remember that the seed had to be planted from fresh not dried seed. There is a website somewhere out there about passiflora seed germination. The seeds are really tough and took months to germinate. In fact, I planted them in June or July and didn't get seedlings until the following Feb or early March.

I literally stuck them in potting soild with vermiculite in a rather large container that produce comes in at Sam's. I almost gave up, but put the carton in my greenhouse and to my surprise they finally germinated!

That said, the plants are really easy to germinate from cuttings....grins. Let us know how yours turn out.

I grew Passiflora incarnata a few years ago. The Gulf Frittilary butterflies love it! I had to remove mine since I'd planted it in my pool area and it will come up all over. I'd like to grow it in a pot again though. I've seen Passiflora incarnata growing along the side of the road with no care whatsoever so it's definitely easy to grow.

Update on the cuttings.

They are doing great. On June 7, I took 4" pots with damp potting mix to the plant, cut some tips off and stuck them in. They've been in the shade on a pebble tray out on the deck. They didn't wilt even on the first day and it has been very hot here. I didn't use rooting hormone, not sure you would need it.

I just checked them and they look like they will take off soon. I hope I can keep them going for a while on the deck because even the most heat loving plant cannot be set out now.