HI, I'm wondering if you've ever eaten the fruit or made juice or tea from your passion flower fruit? I've often heard of it being used like that and wondering what your experience has been. Thx, Xtal

I adore the Gulf Fritillary butterflies! My neighbors had 2 passion vines on the wood lattice topper on our shared wall. Both ornamental, no fruit. One was the classic purple flower and the other was a red flower that was more bell shaped and produced nectar that meant it was always full of ants. Well we always saw butterflies flitting about but never caterpillars. I think the ants ate them as soon as they hatched. Well the lattice was rotten and new neighbors moved in who sweetly asked if it was OK to remove it. We were more than happy since we wanted to replace wood with steel topper. But then I seriously missed the butterflies. I saw zero for a year. I missed them so much I planted a passion vine on the shared wall of the other neighbors. Just the purple flower that doesn’t have nectar so it won’t attract ants. Well for the first time in a year, I see not only butterflies but larva! I plan to cut it back to the “trunk“ each winter so it doesn’t get out of control this time. This vine is incredibly vigorous and could completely cover a carport if you let it. I don’t care about the flowers which are always there or the look of the vine, which is always green with chew holes, but my heart sings when every day I sit in the patio surrounded by the fluttering of beautiful amber butterflies. Usually 2 or 3 but sometimes 7 or 8 as I also provide nectar flowers for them. For me, the whole point of the vine is the butterflies.

Those darker nodes are actual sugar like glands, nectaries, that attract the ants to protect the plant from the likes of caterpillars. From what I've read, ants are usually not a problem of any sort, unless you stick your nose in a bloom and it is covered with them, like I did last week, LOL. The aphids that hit buds usually burrow inside the buds and you don't see them however I haven't personally experience that problem with passiflora only hibiscus. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/1938594?uid=3739600&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21103794922801

Pull the shoots out of the ground, unless you want volunteers. A bit of yellowing leaves at the bottom of the plant is no cause for concern, as they are the oldest leaves. I water my passiflora deeply once a week when it is hot, less if it is cool or raining. They are pretty low maintenance, minus suckers. In the spring I dilute 1 tablespoon of epsom salt to 1 gallon of water and fertilize ONCE.You don't have to do this. Don't over-fertilize, there is no need. You don't have to remove the empty pods, if no fruit forms (and Caerulea fruit is not tasty), the pods will fall off with the flower. Since Caerulea is not self-fertile, you don't have to worry about seeds. In order to make it fruit, you would need 2 different Caerulea, not clones/cuttings. Also, if you want TASTY fruit, get an edulis, some are self-fertile but Caerulea pollen is also okay to pollinate an edulis with. Hope this helps and Happy Gardening!