A break for beauty

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booger

Inactive
It was so incredibly hot today. Official high today was 97, not sure what the high heat index was. After it had "cooled" down a bit tonight, the heat index was 110 degrees with an actual temp of a chilly 91. Brrr! :rolleyes:

Through my blurry, stinging-from-sweat eyes, I spotted this little beauty on the pond bank. I just had to take a pic! (Anyone know what it is, by the way?)
 

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nutkin

Hormonal...and Armed
Wow! THAT IS GORGEOUS! I don't know what it is either....but I wanna know! Neato! Thank you for sharing.

You sound like us...we've gotten so that we take our camera with us everywhere, just in case we see something neat. Wouldn't you know it.... tonight coming back from the fair...we spotted a very rotund gopher right next to the road. I just sat there staring at him, muttering dumb things like...." oh, aren't you the cutest widdle thing...." :lol:

By the time I snapped out of my babbling, it was too late..... down the drainage pipe he went!

Sorry to get off topic!!

Please let us know what that is if you're able to find out...I'd love to have some of those!

nut
 
Pepper

Pepper

Inactive
How awesome! It reminds me of a plant we called Maypops, when I was a child and lived in North Georgia. The Maypops would put on purple flowers just like the one you shared. Later they would turn into a tiny green (watermelon) type thing. As the summer wore on they would turn yellowish, and we would pop them open and eat the seeds inside. They tasted bitter sweet.
 
B

booger

Inactive
Oh, wow! Thanks! I'm reading up on them right now. I'll try to save some seeds from these, too, and share.
 
B

booger

Inactive
I just read that you can do seeds, stem cutting, and the roots/rhizomes from these to start new plants. If someone can tell me how best to harvest and mail the rhizomes, I'll gladly send you some, nutkin (and anyone else who wants it). I'm reading that these can be invasive, though, so make sure you want some. ;)

Editing to say that we can wait for the seeds, too.
 
tropicalfish

tropicalfish

Veteran Member
Oh my goodness! That is a passion flower. I looked it up in my herb book and this is how it is explained:

The name Passion Flower dervives from the Christian symbolism of its flowers: three stigmas for the nails of the Crucifixion, five anthers for Christ's five wounds, a finely cut corona for the Crown of Thorns, and ten sepals representing the Apostles present at the Cross. The herb originates in North America, where it is known as maypop, and was first sent to Europe as a gift for Pope Paul V in 1605. By the 19th century, it was given for epilepsy and later for insomnia.
Click to expand...

That is so beautiful. I am thinking I seen one of those at our local Lowes store recently and it sold for something like $30. :shr: Wow, you've got to send me some. :lol: Isn't this interesting.
 
Tadpole

Tadpole

Inactive
They grow wild on fencerows around here (Georgia). I bought seeds (passiflora incarnata, if I remember correctly) before I noticed that they were everywhere. They even sometimes start as weeds in my garden.

They are beautiful. Sometimes you can be standing in front of a plant and a flower will open right before your eyes... it takes maybe a minute. It's is awe inspiring to watch.

If anyone wants to start seeds, here's a tip. The packet will tell you that they are tricky to germinate and that germination rate is low.

The packet also said they need 90 degree temperature to germinate best. So I put mine in the little seed trays, covered them with a plastic dome, then put them in my gas oven with only the pilot light on.

In THREE DAYS every seed germinated and started growing like crazy.
 
Tadpole

Tadpole

Inactive
Hubby used to eat the fruit all the tiime when he was a kid in southern Georgia. He called them maypops. His mother gave me some maypop jelly one time and it was good.

I haven't eaten one because I understand that the fruit is supposed to turn yellow, but I have never seen them anything but green around here.

Maybe the reason is that zone 7 is the northern limit for them to overwinter and conditions aren't quite right here for the fruit to mature? Nah, can't be that because they sure do propagate themselves. I dunno! :shr:
 
N

nutkin

Hormonal...and Armed
Wow this is so neat! Thank you Booger! I'm happy to wait for a couple of seeds if you're able to get some on down the road. :) I'm wondering if I won't be too far north for them to make it, though? I'm in zone 5b. :sht: GRRRRR
 
C

CanadaSue

Membership Revoked
Lovely!

I thought they looked like passion flowers but thought those were native to EUROPE. How lovely to see they grown wild where you are.

We have plenty of free beauties here - must start carrying the camera around more often.
 
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