This has already been a great learning experience on this message board. Thank you..! We bought a Caerulea variety from a Home Depot two years ago. It made it through the summer last year and grew heartily into a large thick vine that covers a 14' portion of a 6' tall wall in our yard. It's on the East side of a N/S cement block wall. Thus, being Phoenix AZ... doesn't get the direct sunshine late in the day, but does get the heat through the block wall. It's not seeming to bother it at all. Regarding flowers, however... we only had three last year and each one only opened fully for about a 24 hour period. The second day they would open half-way and then died off slowly in about a week's time. I didn't get any fruit last year. I did no trimming over the winter. But this spring, I trimmed back the new growth to maintain the vine to it's current size. The vine has developed tons of flower buds and about eight of them have opened up so far. They still only open up fully for about a 24 hour period. We have few bees here as well so I'll be hand pollinating. But is it common for the flowers to only be open for about a day or so? Thank you in advance for your assistance and wisdom. Michael and Linda Kavanaugh "kavalinda"

I've seen caeruleas down there (burbank / van nuys) *completely* cover those tall skinny juniper-looking trees... My sis had 10 - 15 in her back yard along the fence.. Couldn't even tell what kind of trees they were. The bushes along the back of the pool? (Where the helicopters dip during the fires...) Covered. Neighbor's fence? I think there was one under there... The vines were as thick as my wrist in some spots- Looked more like 'tree wood' than 'vine'. I don't think it's the parent vine that's covering the whole thing (in your yard or hers) as little 'volunteers' were coming up all over the place. Don't know if they were suckers or from seed- As hers had fruit all over it as well, some seeds had to fall & sprout. I'd imagine they might be like the blackberries up here- Give them space, eventually they'll fill it. If it has no natural controls (butterfly larvae, disease, those weird bugs who eat the seeds) & manages to avoid attacks from the weed-eater & lawnmower I don't think it has a limiting factor.

Thanks funnelweb, I'm a US zone 9, but thought I mention it equals to Australia's zone 3 on that link I posted above. It's subtropical in my zone and hardly ever sees any frost or freezing temps. Thanks, i'll just give it a try and if it lives till maturity, i'll get fruit, if not it's a lesson learned. BTW, your neighbor must have the passiflora caerulea(blue passion fruit/maypops). It does produce, not really yellow like the other known yellow Australian kind, but a orange/yellow color, oblong, oval shape fruit. If it is, what, I describe, then it the p. caerulea, which is not very tasty or have much pulp. As, i'm aware your grafted black, could have been grafted onto the p. caerulea rootstock. Which is a very hardy passiflora, native to the US eastern coast, where it gets snow yearly, dies in winter and comew back very aggressive. CAreful with your grafted, black if it is indeed grafted on the p. caerulea root stock, it will sucker like crazy in no time, if not kept under watchful eyes. Nellie Kelly's nursery, in Australia, uses the p. caerulea as root stock for their grafted passion fruit vines, so be sure to know where your grafted plant from. Have read on Daleyfruit forum, how many stories of people's grafted Nellie Kelly's plant went suckering out of control after a few years. Good luck to you as well, if your is a Nellie Kelly's plant, just watch it carefully, or soon you will not have the grafted plant anymore, due to the root stock suckering below the graft.

It should do. Normally, they are smothered with flowers and fruits. They are very vigorous! Just remember to feed them and change the pot one size up or when it's too big, top up with new soil. You could find a place with the longest amount of sunshine and loads of pots and/or concrete which retain heat during day time and release it during the day and grow the plant there. It can cover a huge tree. When it's really cold, you could top up one foot of compost and fleece it.