Hi Skooby, From what I understand most passionflowers need pollen from a different clone (genetically distinct plant) to produce fruit. Naturally this usually comes from a different plant of the same species. If everything had to be pollinated by a different species, there would be no stable species, only hybrids. However there are quite a few different species that are self-fertile. It turns out BOTH parents of Passiflora exoniensis--Passiflora antioquiensis and Passiflora mollissima--are self fertile, however their hybrid Passiflora exoniensis is not. Another well-known self-fertile species (that I own) is Passiflora edulis f. edulis (purple passionfruit--the one you might find in a grocery store). P. caerulea pollen will not fertilize Tacsonias (P. antioquiensis, P. mollissima, P. parritae and closely related plants) as far as I'm aware. I used to show people that Tradewinds picture and tell them that was the hybrid I have. Two problems: they describe the cross as P. parritae x exoniensis. The convention is that the pollen parent is listed second. However as far as I know P. exoniensis pollen is sterile. So I had assumed they just got things reversed. However recently I was told by a guy who propagates passionflowers at Strybing Arboretum that the plant in the photo is actually P. parritae x antioquiensis, a hybrid known as P. 'Mission Dolores'. I've been told it's the most spectacular of the P. parritae hybrids so far, with 16-24 inch peduncles (flower stems) and 6-7 inch enormous flowers. I bought this plant at Strybing a couple weeks ago. As far as new plants, thanks for the offer, but I'm pretty full as it is. A couple weeks ago I decided to pass on a P. parritae plant. This weekend I took part in a large trade with someone who has an incredible plant collection--I took a lot of plants for friends instead of for myself. However I can send you a rooted cutting for postage. It won't be immediate, because I have several people waiting for cuttings at the moment. But please be aware that the plant is probably ill suited to your climate. It grows year-round, unlikely many species that are fully dormant or at least slow way down in the winter. It probably prefers a temperature range of 35 to 85 F. Hotter than that for significant periods of time, especially with nights above 60, may kill the plant. However I'm not sure anyone knows how temperature tolerant this plant is (on the lower end, it almost certainly will die at less than 25-30 F). I know a guy in North Carolina who told me his plant was already suffering from the heat in the Spring, so he sold it. If you do have it outside in the summer, you'll want to give it full shade in the afternoon.

Really interesting thread. As a scientist, I'm always really interested in what my fellow colleagues in the horticultural factories can come up with...genetic manipulation is not an easy feat, so seeing someone successfully develop a marketable product is quite impressive. That said, I would personally never put double-flowering day lilies in my garden. Now if they could make a day lily that would flower for longer than a day....now THAT would be something! :) The entire corporatisation of plant hybridization is quite unfortunate, because more interesting hybrids that may not be perfect in everyone's gardens disappear from existence. To balance this, however, I think the home and amateur gardening community is much less susceptible to the sways of trends and fashions. We all have our favorites, most of us are adventurous, and we plant things in part to experience the awe of seeing something grow, flower and bear fruit rather than having perfect manicured marketable beauty. I think on principle, gardening can mean different things to different people. To some, it is an art that appeals the aesthetics of each individual. As an artist, do you stop painting because the paint production process has become automated and refined; to the point at which you no longer have to go find beetle shells or crocus stamens to make your own colors, but rather, any color in any shade is available at your finger tips? To others, gardening is a method of creating beauty with natural elements, and therefore it may feel strange or odd to put genetically manipulated plants/hybrids in the garden. I completely understand - I ran an all organic garden on campus with the mandate geared towards natural gardening. We stuck with native plants whenever possible, and it was fantastic. Sure there were times when I saw a perfect spot for some hybrid aquilegia, or hydrangeas. But at the same time, it felt nice to garden with a firm philosophy in place. In the end though, I think I'm more of an artist - I grab anything that looks cool to me. To follow through with the allegory, I don't reject the entire palette based upon the fact that it was man-made, but I am selective in my colors. To put it in perspective, the Green Wizard Rudbeckia that was previously shown may cause most of us to recoil in horror, but if it had been presented as a newly discovered species of Rudbekia, would it have been met with the same response? Are we being exclusive because aesthetically it is unappealing, or does it conflict with our desire to maintain 'natural' gardens? Personally I find it quite 'zen', although it's a little too alien-like for my tastes.

OK, now that I'm thinking about this some more, I think pollen sterility might create a problem with what I had in mind if I can't tell definitively whether or not seed-grown offspring will also be pollen-sterile. What I planned was to order 4 lb of chestnut seed from 4 different cultivars (approximately 120 nuts total), stratify in the garage over winter, plant them in discarded plastic containers I get from my QA lab (approximately 12" tall and 6" in diameter, used at the factory for 5-lb bulk cottage cheese and yogurt packaging, and the perfect size for tree saplings), and grow them until spring 2013 or 2014 in a protected, fenced-in portion of my garden. At this point, I'd select the most vigorous 10 saplings for my own yard, and give the remainder away to neighbors, friends, family, coworkers, posts on Craigslist, etc. My thought was to give them away in pairs, with one pollen-sterile and one pollen-fertile cultivar each. However, if even seedlings of Colossal and Sleeping Giant are pollen-sterile, that means only one of the two trees in the pair would bear nuts, correct? For example, a Skookum would pollinate a Colossal, but then the Skookum wouldn't get any pollination itself. I could give them away as threes instead (one pollen-sterile, two pollen-fertile), but then people would probably just plant them too close together because not a lot of yards have room for 3 mature chestnuts. It just seems a waste to have a potentially fruitful tree not bearing because of a lack of a pollinator. The seeds are already in the mail, so there's no going back now

Steve--I've tried growing some Reticulatas and R. hybrids outdoors without success here in 7a--they just don't make it through the winter even with protection. As a compromise, I've grown a couple of them in pots which get brought into my cool sunroom for the winters. Well worth the effort--Clifford D. Parks is simply the most astounding bloom I've ever seen. Kai Mei's Choice also does well in the pot. They're kind of straggly, but Reticulatas grow that way--not in an unattractive way, but definitely less full than the Japonicas I also grow in pots. And, bonus! they start their bloom in the sunroom in February when everything outdoors is still dormant and ravaged by the dingblursted deer. Indoors, the blooms individually last about 2 weeks on the bush and by the time they finish up, things get going outdoors. Give it some thought. -eric