Tag Archives: vine

Passiflora citrina (Yellow Passion Flower)

Passiflora citrinaPassiflora citrina is a cute passiflora vine. It’s relatively small, and though you can really grow it out (it’s a rapid grower), you can easily maintain it small and compact. The leaves have an interesting shape to them and have yellow stripes.

The plat looks it’s best when you get the foliage dark and luscious, since the flowers are yellow. If there is not enough light, or the soil is not rich enough, the leaves will get lighter and yellower, and though you will still get plenty of flowers, they Passiflora citrinawon’t be very noticeable.
For best results, besides giving plenty of warmth, light, and fertilizer you can even add slow release iron supplement to the soil to get the leaves dark enough.

The flowers are not as large and showy as other passionflowers. They are solid yellow and look like numerous stars on the passionflower vine. Before they open and after they close, they look like yellow candles, and are still decorative (each passion flower opens for only a day). They are freely produced year round and are a joy to look at!

Passiflora citrina originates from Central America, and can tolerate lower temperatures for short periods of time. When grown as a house plant, it’s evergreen and everblooming. This passionflower is small and compact, very easy to take care of, and very forgiving of neglect. And given suitable conditions it will constantly bear flowers. Though the flowers are not big and showy, they are lovely to look at and so numerous, when the plant is grow well, that it’s quite a sight.Passiflora citrina

Requirements:

Watering needs:

Passiflora citrina has medium watering needs. In my experience it handles drying out and over watering quite well. When the plant is dried out it seems to drop leaves instead of wilting, and when overwatered the leaves get paler and the soil gets washed off from nutrients. Overall a very forgiving plant. Water generously when the soil feels dry to the touch and use a well draining medium for best results.

Light:

Passiflora citrinaIn my experience Passiflora citrina prefers part shade over full sun. You can grow it on east/south or west window inside, but if taking it outside for the summer, it will prefer part shade. This plant will flower with lower light level as well, but it will not do well on a north window.

Humidity:

Passilora citrina is not as fussy s other passionflowers, and can tolerate lower humidity levels quite well. It’s also quite resistant to bugs. When the humidity is really low, the leaves become more brittle, so for best results keep the humidity higher.

Soil Type and Fertilizer:

Rich well draining medium is perfect for this plant. You can use a generic potting mix with slow release fertilizer and some sand or per-lite. I like to add a bit of compost to my mixture, and it seems to give the extra richness to the soil. Generic fertilizer will do just fine. I would say this plant is a moderate feeder, though not as much as some of the more showy passifloras, so be careful not to over-fertilize.

Propagation:

Just like other passifloras, Passiflora citrina is very easy to propagate through cuttings. I’ve successfully rooted cutting any time of the year and any type of cutting would work. The plant grows rapidly, and reaches blooming size in half a year or less depending on the conditions.

Other Care Tips and Personal Observations: 

Passiflora citrinaAs a rapid growing vine, this plant requires support. Feel free to cut back loose growth and wrap the plant and shape it however you like.

To have a nice dark foliage it helps to add a bit of slow release iron granules to the soil, and ensure the plant is getting plenty of light.

Passiflora citrina doesn’t require as much light as other passionflowers, and can be grown successfully at lower light levels, as well as under grow lights (daylgiht LED works just fine if you provide enough lux to the plant).

 

 

Very easy plant to grow, and a generous bloomer, this passiflora makes  a wonderful houseplant!Passiflora citrina

Ceropegia woodii (Rosery vine)

Ceropegia woodiiCeropegia woodii is a gorgeous small-leaved vine, that is commonly called rosary vine, chain of hearts, hearts on a string and so on, due to the heart shape of its cute waxy purplish-silver leaves. I love how this plant looks. It’s a great addition to any house plant collection. The plant is drought tolerant and doesn’t require much attention, it’s relatively easy to propagate, and I’ve used it in different flower arrangements.

Like other ceropegias, the flowers have odd shape and are interesting looking. Once this plant becomes well established, it will flower throughout the year.  The flowers are not that noticeable ceropegia woodiion the plant as they are not huge or contrasting to the foliage. However, they are still fascinating to look at. It’s the leaves that are what makes Ceropgia woodii such a pleasure to grow at home.

This plant is native to South Africa. It tolerates dryer air conditions and drought as well as the occasional lower temperatures. There are different cultivars available with different size and leave variegation.

Requirements:

Watering needs:

Ceropegia woodii is a succulent plant that tolerates drought. Medium watering will be just fine for it, and if you forget to water it once in a while it will be no big deal. Do not overwater this plant, as it will rot away. Moist soil is ok, but soggy soil or leaving the pot soaking in water for a long time will kill your plant. I tend to let the plant dry out completely and then soak the pot in water until it gets moist, let it drain well and then repeat the cycle. I do water it more in the summer time.

Light:

ceropegia woodiiThe higher the better, though it will grow and flower in part shade just as well. South, west and east facing windows are ideal. I’ve grown Ceropegia woodii on a north facing window for a while to see how it does. It still grew well, but the leaves became lighter and spread farther apart on the stems, and the plant flowered less. North facing garden window is fine for this plant, where it gets very bright indirect light all day. If you take it outside in the warmer months make sure you slowly acclimated it to higher light levels to avoid leaf burn. It grows and flowers great at full sun exposure as well.ceropegia woodii

Humidity:
This plant can tolerate lower humidity. If grown around high humidity loving plants, it will be fine as well, and you will just have to water it even less, since the leaves will evaporate less moisture when the air is humid.

Soil Type and Fertilizer:

Cactus soil and cactus fertilizer work fine for this plant, though I’ve used generic potting mix with some sand, per-lite and peat moss as well. Ceropegia woodii likes well draining soil mix.

Propagation:

Ceropegia woodii is very easy to propagate. It forms nods on the stems that you can root in sandy soil. The plant forms tubers as well and you can simply dig one out with the roots and repot it. It is a bit harder to propagate the plant from cuttings that don’t have nodes on them, but one way to do it is to get a bigger cutting and leave it a few days to dry a bit before potting it in moist sand, that will stimulate the need to grow roots and nodes. Once, on accident, I tore a large piece off my ceropegia. I left it on my table for a few days, and then I tossed the long stem cutting into a randomCeropegia woodii flower pot with a big dracaena in it (did not even pot it or anything) and couple of weeks later I saw the ceropgia growing vigorously under the dracaena.

Other Care Tips and Personal Observations: 

It’s a lovely plant to have and very easy to propagate. Ceropegia woodii is great for hanging baskets and displays itself beautifully. It’s one of my favorite plants. I remember being so excited as a child when I saw one for sale, that my mom had to get it. I love the cute heart shape leaves and I love the color of this vine, it really stands out. If I didn’t have one already, I would prefer Ceropegia woodii for a Valentines day present, rather than cut flowers or chocolates. A great plant to have at home and since it’s not an overly aggressive grower you can easily pot it with other plants and do arrangements.

Passiflora piresii

 

Passiflora piresii Passiflora periesii is one of the many wonderful everblooming passiflora varieties. They all more or less require the same conditions, though some are more needy than others.

Passiflora periesii is a large showy passiflora. The flowers only last a day and they tend to open consecutively along the stem. When your plant gets large enough, it will be continuously covered with flowers.

The higher the light/heat/humidity/soil richness the more you will get out of your plant. This plant requires room and support to climb on. Extremely showy and very rewarding to grow. Even thought each flower last a day, it makes such a beautiful sight to see. The flowers are such an intense bright red color, they almost seem to glow. They are also very large and look almost unreal.Passiflora piresii

Requirements:

Watering needs:

Water when the plant when the soil approaches dryness. If the temperatures are high, water the plant more generously. Passionflowers generally like a lot of sun, heat, water, fertilizer and humidity. Pretty much a lot of everything. During the winter reduce the amount of water appropriately.

You can find more information and tips on watering here.

Light:

Passiflora piresiiThe more the better! Passiflora piresii will flower on an east or west window, but it will do the best on a south facing window. The picture on the right shows Passiflora piressi flowering on a small east facing window. If you have the opportunity, grow it outside in full sun during the warmer months.  Supplementing it with grow lights during the winter will help to get more growth and flowers during these dark times. If I had southeast floor to ceiling corner windows (the next best thing after an actual greenhouse) I would have tons of ever blooming passionflowers!

Humidity:

This plant prefers higher humidity, though will tolerate lower as well. If the humidity is too low the corners of the leaves will dry up, and the flower buds may fail to open.

You can read more about humidity and tips to maintain it here.

Soil Type and Fertilizer:

Passionflowers like rich soil mixes, neutral to slightly acidic, that are freely draining. Some varieties can tolerate a wide range of soil conditions, others are more fussy. When I re-pot my passifloras in the spring I like to mix in general potting mix with some peat moss and a bit of fully composted cow manure to get the pH slightly up and add plenty of organic richness to the soil. I also add perlite or sand to insure the soil is freely draining. Generic fertilizer applied at half strength regularly throughout the growing season seems to do the job. If the plant leaves turn paler, the plant is either not getting enough nutrient, not enough light, or is missing minerals.

Propagation:

Can be easily propagated though cuttings or seeds. Cuttings is preferable as the plant will come  into flower as soon as it gets big enough. If you grow your plant from seeds it may be years before your plant matures enough to start flowering.

Other Care Tips and Personal Observations: 

20150823_120039This is a large leafed vine with big flowers that requires quite a bit of support. Shaping pruning and wrapping back onto the trellis is essential to keep this plant in a good shape, well branched and looking good.

The higher the light the better. It’s interesting how the plant forms buds up along the branches in a way that would allow the flowers to open one a day. The leaves are big and darker green, beautifully contrasting the flowers. Passiflora piresii flowers don’t have a sent.

Passiflora piresii