{"id":36073,"date":"2016-11-03T08:43:26","date_gmt":"2016-11-03T14:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/?p=36073"},"modified":"2016-11-03T09:26:34","modified_gmt":"2016-11-03T15:26:34","slug":"fun-flowers-to-grow-from-seed-passion-vine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyimprovisations.com\/fun-flowers-to-grow-from-seed-passion-vine\/","title":{"rendered":"Fun Flowers to Grow from Seed: Passion Vine"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"passion-vine-flower-in-full-bloom\"<\/a>This year I grew passion vines from seed<\/strong> for the first time. In fact, I have never even had any kind of passion vine plant in my garden or in a pot before. They are supposedly aggressive vines in warmer climates (like zones 9 – 11), but will die in cold winter regions<\/span><\/a>, which southwest Idaho is (zone 5). Some sources say it might be possible to overwinter a passion vine in a very protected location, with mulching. I may try that next year, but for now, the three passion vines that I grew from seed are safely in my greenhouse.<\/p>\n

\"passion-vine-seed-packet\"<\/a>There were two minor challenges with getting the seed to germinate. First, it had to be soaked. I put it on a warm window sill for this. There were not any noticeable changes in the seed from soaking. (click on any photo to enlarge)<\/em><\/p>\n

The little round seed was easy enough to keep track of and plant in potting soil just like I do for all my seed starting. The main thing now was to be patient since the earliest the seed packet said to expect germination was 3 weeks. So, I covered the pots with plastic and put them in a warm cupboard.<\/p>\n

\"Passion<\/a>
Passion vine seeds soaking in water on a warm window sill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The seeds are about 1\/8th inch in diameter. Can you see it on the tip of my finger?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This cupboard has pipes with warm water going through them to heat the house.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"A<\/a>
A couple of my passion vine seedlings.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I was pleasantly surprised when I had one seed sprout in almost exactly three weeks. A couple other sprouts were soon to follow, two in one pot, but that was all out of the 6 pots. Now, it was time to move the pots under the greenhouse lights, in hopes of still keeping them warm enough for more to sprout.<\/p>\n

The seedlings were very sturdy right away, looking a bit like little trees. However, they did not grow very fast. In fact, they didn\u2019t change much in size until I planted them outdoors when the weather was reliably warm during both the night and day. Two were put in large pots and one was planted directly in a flower bed in full sun.<\/p>\n

All three vine seedlings did well, but the ones in the pots suffered a bit from inconsistent watering and being a bit crowded from flowers around the perimeter that grew larger than expected. Neither of those blossomed, but the plant in front finally blossomed in early October. I had about given up hope, but it was worth the wait to find that exotic bloom.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The seedling has healthy roots. They are thick and strong looking, but not suffering from being root bound in a container too small for them.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The passion vine is centered in the pot. I thought because it would mostly grow vertically, the petunias would work around the edges, but they crowded the vine too much, actually growing to be almost 2 feet tall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I decided to move them all into the greenhouse for the winter. This doesn’t leave me with walking room on one side of my potting table, but the plants will get good light from the east facing patio windows and the grow lights.\u00a0(see a one minute greenhouse tour video below!)<\/em> I removed all the overgrown petunias from the pots. I left in the smaller midnight phlox, and let the potting soil dry out enough to make the pots lighter to move. I still needed a bit of help to get them up the patio step.<\/p>\n