I think you've got yourself a maypop. They are also called passion flowers - the bloom is purple and quite pretty. They are native and should be a good host plant for butterfly larvae.
@Ellen, YEP! My FIL loved those for the scent, however I didn't know they were also called May pops! and I didn't know they were a native plant! LOL Thanks for the info....do you know if they have to have full fun?
That is a passion fruit, they are delicious. I have been growing them for years and eating them since a was a child. It is a wonderful addition to any garden. They are called maypops in the South and that is that particular varieties only native habitat. There are many other varieties of passion fruit around the world and they are all different. Their scientific name is Passiflora incarnata. Good luck with your good find!!!
Sharron, I think they really like full sun. They used to grow all along the roadside on fences in central Alabama back when I was young and riding my bicycle on country roads,
thanks everyone..you have piqued my interest.so should i go try and trellis them. There were probably25 caterpillars on them. Will they come back next yr? They are lime green right now..when should i pick them? if they last till ripen
Jimmy, as Ellen said, maypops are great host plants for butterflies and they do very well on a trellis. And, yes, they will come back next year. They are ripe when they turn yellow-orange.
Thanks for everyone's input. I am anxious to see what they taste like. I have never come across these before. Although I hate to get rid of the caterpillars. Maybe we can share.
In GA, as Ellen said in AL, as a child we would see them growing along the roadsides...and right by our homestead as a matter of fact...as children finding something to play with outside, we would throw them at each other b/c they would POP when they hit something hard enough....they were our granades lol!!! good times!!! LOL hey, they were called MAYPOPS....what else were we supposed to do with them????
We wait until they fall off most of the time, they are yellow, orange and still have spots of green at that point. They have a sweet tangy taste that is unique and if you let them dry out a bit on the outside until wrinkled the flavor concentrates in the sack around the seed. That inside is a little like a pomegranate in that the juice is around the seed. And the seed can be saved and sowed, I have a ton of them from years of collecting them. If we get a real cold hard winter they may not
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come back from where they are now and you will have to plant new seed. We have ours on a fence that we use as a trellis and it is a part of our vegetable garden. For the most part they are perennial
but like I mentioned a hard cold freeze will kill them. They are very easy to plant and since they are native to the area they are very drought tolerant. Good luck!!!
my money is on some variety of gourd...there are dozens of different kinds
but like I mentioned a hard cold freeze will kill them. They are very easy to plant and since they are native to the area they are very drought tolerant. Good luck!!!