As my chicken coop and chicken yard continue to evolve in their needs, I've started adding blooming vines to the fence we built to keep them out of the veg garden. I planted three of these Maypops, or Passiflora incarnata, (plus a couple of P. caerulea 'Blue Queen') along the fence to not only provide some shade for the girls, but also to camouflage the fence dress things up a bit with the showy flowers.
After an application of recycled chicken litter fertilizer, these beauties have taken off and are starting to throw off a number of blooms. Maypops also produce small orange edible fruits (hence the name), which will make great treats for the chickens!
Butterflies love passion vine so planting one or two is a great way to attract them to your garden. There are many different species and varieties to choose from. In mild winters they may keep most of their foliage...in colder winters they'll die to the ground, then re-emerge in spring. Passion vines are perfect for a sunny location, but they will tolerate some dappled shade or late afternoon shade.
Which types have you planted? I've started a collection, trying to grow anything that will do well outdoors year round here. So far, I've got the all-white Constance Elliott, the blue crown, P. "Incense", P. incarnata, a white sport of incarnata, "Clear Sky," (a tetraploid hybrid of caerulea) and one called Temptation x Temptation - I really want to get some more with tasty fruits!
Posted by: Michael | April 16, 2012 at 03:09 PM
Nooo, that's just me writing a post very late at night and not pay attention to which photo I grabbed...LOL!! (have have several types planted)Thanks for the catch Michael! Later I'll have to go hunt down the right photo.
Spring makes me TIRED people!
Posted by: Leslie Finical Halleck | April 13, 2012 at 04:04 PM
(pssst.... that's not P. incarnata, the Maypop; that's P. caerulea, the Blue Crown Passionflower. The fruit is edible, but not delicious - P. incarnata has an amazing tropical flavor. P. incarnata here: http://www.wormspit.com/blog/2010/09/09/more-passionfruit/ P. caerulea gets mislabeled a lot as incarnata.)
Posted by: Michael | April 13, 2012 at 03:54 PM