Passiflora Incense- Passion Flower

The Passiflora 'Incense' will delight enthusiasts of exotic but relatively hardy vines with large, fragrant flowers. Its flowers are abundant, architectural, and highly scented, with a deep mauve-violet colour and well-contrasting centre, abundantly adorned with long blue-violet filaments. It produces oval, green-yellow edible fruits with a perfumed flavour. Its thick and shiny dark green foliage disappears with the first frost. Surrounded by a parade of butterflies, it is a rarely matched summer adornment, providing a sensational decorative effect whether planted in the ground or a pot!

Primarily native to tropical areas of South America, passionflowers belong to the large family of Passifloraceae, which includes 400 species and numerous spontaneous or horticultural hybrids.

'Incense', obtained in 1973 in the USA in Florida, is one of them, almost impossible to find in the horticultural trade. This passionflower is the result of cross-breeding between the Passiflora incarnata with large mauve flowers, resistant to cold, native to the southeastern United States and Mexico, and the P. cincinnata, with more contrasting flowers, sensitive to cold, native to South America. This voluble plant clings to its support using tendrils, reaching a height of 5m (16ft). It is characterized by its herbaceous stems, almost completely glabrous, which disappear with the first frost. They are adorned with glabrous leaves, divided into five thick oval lobes, shiny dark green on the upper side, paler underneath, and strictly deciduous when it freezes. Its flowering period extends from spring to autumn, with large flowers measuring 10cm (4in) in diameter that constantly renew on the plant. Its pleasantly scented flowers have mauve petals. The crown filaments are dark blue-violet striped with white near the centre and a lighter and uniform violet shade on the periphery. The centre of the stamens is white. The unusual shape of the flower, relatively brief, evolves the petals and sepals curl, while the filament crown folds and straightens to avoid self-pollination. Once pollinated, the flowers give way to edible oval fruits, green-yellow when ripe, measuring from 5 to 6 cm (2in) long. The pulp is tasty and aromatic. This hybrid seems to be systematically infected by a virus that affects this rapidly growing plant very little but could harm other more delicate passionflowers. We recommend cultivating it separately, monitoring the presence of aphids, and disinfecting the pruning tools if you grow several passionflowers.

This 'Incense' Passionflower, with a hardiness of up to -8°C (17.6°F), is a rambling vine that is otherwise not demanding in terms of soil. At the end of flowering, pruning involves cutting it back near the ground if its stems have frozen. With its 5m (16ft) height and its highly scented and exotic flowering, the Incense passionflower can be used to dress walls, fences, grilles, porches, and trellises, preferably combined with a small evergreen vine that will provide permanent decoration in winter (Clematis cirrhosa, Hardenbergia violacea). It can also be planted against an evergreen or deciduous hedge, adding a lot of originality to the summer landscape. It is also highly appreciated in conservatories, where it will withstand cold winters without damage. There is no harm in tasting its fruits out of curiosity or greed!