Native to Central and South America, the passion flower is a gorgeous and Instagram-worthy plant that’s often grown in gardens. For gardeners who are low on outdoor space or live in an area too cold for these tropical plants, then growing passion flower indoors is a must! The beautiful flowers are easy to care for, even indoors, and make great additions to both homes and greenhouses. If you’re wondering how to maintain a passion flower indoors, keep reading ahead to find out!
The passion flower has been used in both edible and topical products and ailments. Its health effects haven’t been researched extensively, but the passion flower and its fruit have long been promoted for helping with anxiety and sleep problems in addition to soothing pain and skin irritation. Beyond its potential benefits, the passion flower is also a gorgeous climbing vine. It consists of wiry stems with dark green leaves that fan out and short-stalked flowers with a saucer shape and oval buds. Each fragrant flower has five to 10 petals surrounding colorful filaments and golden anthers — the varieties differ mostly by color, though you’ll most commonly find these plants in shades of purple and blue. Outdoor passion flowers yield two-inch orange fruit, but indoor plants seldom produce fruit.
How to grow a passion flower indoors
Maintaining a passion flower in a container indoors can take extra work, and you’ll want to be diligent about watering and feeding your plant. That said, it’s possible to nourish a thriving passion flower inside your home by following the tips below!
Light: Passion flowers grow best in bright light. Give your plant at least four hours of direct sunlight per day. Alternatively, keep your plant under a grow light for around 12 hours a day if you don’t get enough natural light in your home.
Temperature: Passion flowers appreciate warmth during the growing season, but they need a winter cooling period of around 50 degrees Fahrenheit to flower during the growing season. Some varieties are hardy down to 20 degrees, but these plants do best in temperatures between 65 and 80 degrees.
Soil: Place passion flowers in a well-draining potting mix. They’ll also appreciate spacious containers so that their roots can spread out.
Water: Keep passion flowers thoroughly moist during the growing season, but don’t let them sit in water. Even during the winter, you want to prevent the soil from drying out completely. Moist air is also a plus — passion flower plants appreciate high humidity levels. If you use a heater or an air conditioner, you’ll want to use a humidifier or keep your plant near a tray of water.
Fertilizer: During the spring and summer, feed your plant a balanced, diluted liquid fertilizer at half strength every month.
Prune: Passion flowers are prolific growers, so don’t hesitate to cut them back. You can prune your plant back to its strongest vines during early spring — this is an opportunity to remove damaged leaves and promote bushier growth. Keep the remaining vines between 15 to 20 inches long and make sure not to remove any flower buds while you’re at it.
How to propagate a passion flower
The best time to propagate a passion flower is during the spring or summer. Take a 3- to 4-inch stem cutting and remove the lower leaves to expose the nodes. You can choose to dip your cuttings in a rooting hormone, but it’s not necessary. Place the cutting in a potting mix and keep your pot in a warm and bright environment; the roots should form roughly one month later. Alternatively, you can also grow passion flower plants from seeds. After soaking the seeds, place them in a moistened potting mix and give them plenty of bright light so they can germinate and sprout. This method, however, will require more time and may not be as successful.
In tropical rainforests, passion flower plants cling to tree trunks with their tendrils. When you keep passion flowers as houseplants, add thin supports that the tendrils can cling onto. Guide young plants with wire hoops or a trellis for an attractive display in your home. It’s best to start with a young plant and to go tendril by tendril at the beginning.
Common problems when growing passion flowers
Just like any other plant, there are a few common problems you should be on the look out for. The most common problems come from a lack of light or warmth. Passion flowers are tropical plants, so they will suffer stunted growth, small or sparse blooms, and a generally weak or wilted appearance if they are in a cold or dark environment. They are also prone to fungal diseases such as root rot and leaf spot. Make sure to use well-draining potting soil for your plant and avoid getting the leaves wet when watering it.
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While indoor plants are typically less likely to see pest infestations, you should still be aware that mites and scale insects can cause problems for passion flowers. If you are growing your passion flower outdoors and only bringing it in during the winter then inspect your plant thoroughly before moving it indoors. Keeping your plant healthy will keep the worst pest damage at bay, but pay extra attention to the humidity and air flow around your plant. Small pests like mites thrive in dry, stagnant environments, while passion flowers prefer humid areas with decent airflow.
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With beautiful blooms and foliage that can climb, passion flowers make desirable plants out in the garden and inside the home. Even when kept indoors as houseplants, passion flowers can be prolific growers. With bright light, ample watering, and sufficient space, you can train a lush and quick-growing plant inside your home!
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Grow passion flowers in full sun, on well-drained soil and fertilize in spring and mid-summer to get the best growth and blooms. Keep the soil moist with mulch. The mulch also can protect the roots in winter in cold areas. Passion flowers usually don't need much attention to deadheading and pruning.
Grow passion flowers in full sun, on well-drained soil and fertilize in spring and mid-summer to get the best growth and blooms. Keep the soil moist with mulch. The mulch also can protect the roots in winter in cold areas. Passion flowers usually don't need much attention to deadheading and pruning.
Choose a sunny, south-facing wall with fertile, well-drained soil. Ideal for sunny borders, your passion flower will need some support in order to climb. Train the vine onto a trellis against a wall or fence – it clings with tendrils so won't need to be tied in once it's established.
As a landscape plant, it prefers moist conditions with well-draining soil. Do not over-water this vine. Plant it in full sun to partial shade. It is hardy to about thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and if frosted back, it recovers quickly in the spring.
But the most common cause of lack of flowers in passiflora is too much nitrogen and too little potassium. Nitrogen will promote vigorous green growth at the expense of flowers. A weekly watering with liquid seaweed in May, June and July should do the trick. Finally, remember that passion flowers only last one day.
Passion Flower needs 0.8 cups of water every 9 days when it doesn't get direct sunlight and is potted in a 5.0" pot. Use our water calculator to personalize watering recommendations to your environment or download Greg for more advanced recommendations for all of your plants.
Too hot or too cold, and your plant's leaves might decide to bail. Moderate these conditions by keeping your plant in a spot that mimics its tropical origins—think warm but not scorching, and definitely not frosty. Light changes are another drama. Your Passion Flower craves that sweet spot of bright, indirect sunlight.
Since passion flowers bloom only on young and woody shoots, you should cut back the older shoots of passion flowers. In addition, pruning leads to more branching, which is quite desirable. The shoots can be cut back to 15 cm, but in such a way that some buds still remain.
The yellowing foliage could be caused by too much water, too little water, sucking insects such as aphids and scale, other predators such as thrips and mites, fungal diseases or simply normal aging.
Potted passionflower plants may turn yellow or wilt if they are being underwatered or feel too cold. Passionflower plants in the ground may have yellowing leaves because there's a problem with the soil's nutrients. You can have the soil tested so it can be properly amended.
The native purple passionflower (Passiflora incarnata, below) returns dependably every year, though after a particularly cold winter it might decide to hibernate until late May before sprouting.
One of the most popular food plants for butterfly enthusiasts is the passion vine. Not only does it attract butterflies, it also has exotic flowers that attract hummingbirds and pollinators.
Passion flowers are native to South America and only the hardiest cultivars can survive winters as cold as USDA zone 6. It is because of this, many people choose to grow passion fruit vines in pots that can be moved indoors during the cold months.
The plants bloom from June to September. The pulpy fruit or “maypop” develops in two to three months after flowering and may be harvested from July to October. It will be yellowish in color and it is about the size of a large oval hen's egg.
Passionflower does well in a pH range between 6.1 and 7.5. Keep the soil evenly moist in the absence of rain and water whenever the top inch feels dry but be careful not to overwater it, especially potted plants. Mulching around the base helps to conserve soil moisture.
“Maypop (P. incarnata) is also great for butterflies,” she says, “but you have to grow it in a pot with a stone paver underneath to keep it from spreading.” Blue passion flower (P.
If the conditions are right, passion flowers will also produce fruit in our latitudes. But beware: not all species of passion flowers have edible fruit. The fruits of edible species can be harvested as soon as they turn orange to brown or purple.
Passion flowers don't like to be pruned too hard, too often, as it weakens the plant. Give your plants a light prune at the end of the summer once they've finished flowering or, if they require some renovation, a harder prune during early spring is the way to go.
Passionfruit flower. Other reasons why flowers will fall off vines could be put down to the strong winds we've been experiencing, and also the sudden drop in temperature as we head into winter. Passionfruit vines are best planted in mid-spring to mid-summer, and being a subtropical fruit, can't handle frost.
Many flowers of the purple passion vine will set fruit when self-pollinated, but yellow passion vines need to be pollinated by a different vine that is genetically compatible. If you are experiencing no fruit on your passionflower vine, another reason may be few bee visitors.
Very large Passiflora plants may need little feeding if they have a large root system & are in fertile soil. Slow release products are best. Recommended are Vitax Q4 (5.3-7.5-10) and Fish, Blood Bone (3-9-3), plus there are many more on the market that will do the job.
Short freezes on well mulched plants will result in the dieback of old material, but re-sprouting in spring from the roots. In old or unmaintained plants, cutting back passion vines to just 1 or 2 strong stems will force the plant to regrow new stems, which can then be trained.
Existing hybrids are best propagated by cuttings as even if fertile their seed will almost always be variable and possibly produce inferior offspring. Note, many Passiflora root readily but for those that don't I recommend Clonex rooting gel.
Passion vine is ideal for growing on walls, fences, and trellises. In areas where the vine is not hardy, it can be grown outdoors in a container in summer and taken inside to a bright spot out of direct sun during winter (when it should be watered sparingly).
If your plant's leaves are turning brown or drying out, you are likely underwatering it. Purple passion plants prefer moist (not soggy!) soil. Water fairly frequently, when 25% of the soil volume is dry.
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