Tis the season for Yellow Jackets. This is the time of the years when you will see them everywhere. Usually if you do see a concentration of them in one area they've found something they like or they do have a nest nearby or both. They do nest in the ground, but they also like (from personal experience) compost piles and any crevice like a stone wall or a hole in your foundation. Late last fall I went into a basement room in my parents house and found the room swarming with the critters. Somehow they found a crevice in the foundation and decided to set up shop. They may be visiting leaves of plants for the moisture. I always see them on the leaves of my bean plants when I go out to pick the beans. They also continually visit the leaves of my water lilies. Kevin

It is the native passion flower vine, Passiflora incarnata. Quite exotic looking, isn't it? Here is a link that might be useful: Passiflora incarnata

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!

Update: the leaves are getting more yellow, but strangely enough, I am still getting passion flowers and the vines are still growing, but very slowly. hmm, it could be drainage... but it is planted on an 8" mound...and my bananas in the same planter seem to be doing fine. Do passionfuits like drier soil?