an ode to our passion fruit vine

sniff…

She was tiny when we got her. Barely reached the deck. Just peeked over the side. Hello! We have high hopes for you!
Literally!

She grew. At first we didn’t know how much she was growing – it was subtle. Here she is just beginning to cover the front of the pergola.

But I’d say within six to eight months she began to cover the entire steps-side of the pergola. We did realize we should have planted her on the other side, since that’s the natural way o grow with the sunlight, but she didn’t seem to mind. By 14 months or so, 15 months, she was flourishing quite seriously!

We could just walk out the front door and partake of her bounty. Or we’d be sitting quietly and hear a soft “thud,” and there would be a fruit on the deck for us. She was prolific.

She was immortalized in art – watercolour by Peggy McGee:

And in photography:

And in recipe – where I showed you how we make our passion fruit syrup:

Cooking it with sugar –

Strain –

Add a bit of syrup, club soda – enjoy!

Well, we did enjoy. We even froze lots of syrup.
However, the small freezer is in an area that blew the uninterruptible power supply (UPS), and we lost everything in that freezer. Including her syrup.

Her blossoms – well, they were gorgeous, and the symbolism blew us away.

Hurricane Irene saw fit to shorten your life and, well, to extinguish it.

We celebrate the time you spent with us, that you nourished us!
And we look forward to your sibling, cousin, whomever takes your place. We don’t relish waiting another year and a half, but good things are worth waiting for, yes?

Thank you Cathy, for suggesting we grow a passion fruit. I know you lost yours too, on Cat Island. May our new vines flourish!

My gratefuls – That we had a very quiet and restorative Saturday. That I got to trim someone’s hair… Truffles! (I love cutting hair.) (Yes, I will show you when I think she is ready.)

~ by photokunstler on 30 October 2011.

Posted in 365Grateful, food
Tags: , , ,

12 Responses to “an ode to our passion fruit vine”

  1. Aww, RIP, passionfruit vine!
    I thought it was cut back drastically, but still alive – you must have decided to take it out, then??

    Brigitte Carey said this on 30 October 2011 at 7:40 am

  2. Yeah, she’s a goner Brigitte.
    We will look for a replacement at Pinewood on Monday. Sniff.

    photokunstler said this on 30 October 2011 at 10:10 am

  3. Sniff!

    Mary said this on 30 October 2011 at 12:54 pm

  4. Yeah… a big sniff Mary.

    photokunstler said this on 30 October 2011 at 12:55 pm

  5. We are heading to Cat in a 10 days – will give you an update on our vine, fingers crossed that we won’t have to start from scratch.

    Cathy said this on 30 October 2011 at 2:56 pm

  6. We had a passion fruit vine at our old house and it literally took over.. shoots came up everywhere! But I loved the flowers – I don’t remember getting fruit though – maybe didn’t get hot enough here.

    ruthsteinfatt said this on 30 October 2011 at 2:59 pm

  7. on another note – what kind of wood did you use for your raised beds? We have left over pressure treated lumber – I researched that abit and sounds like if you put a marine varnish, the treatment won’t leach out. Also, we have been contemplating using the mulch, but have had different theories on the palatabilty for termites – some say that it attracts them. Termites, one thing we don’t worry about up here!

    Cathy said this on 30 October 2011 at 3:01 pm

  8. Wow, Ruth – that was the Ontario house?
    Amazing!!
    The flowers are incredible. But the fruit – wow!!
    I wonder if you need heat, or if you need something to cross-pollinate or something. I can remember feeling like we were waiting and waiting to get the fruit, and wondering if we had a male (and if male passion fruit plants exist!). Then very suddenly she exploded with fruit!

    photokunstler said this on 30 October 2011 at 4:16 pm

  9. Oh good, Cathy. I will keep my fingers uncrossed for your vine!!
    Enjoy Cat! I know you will. 🙂

    photokunstler said this on 30 October 2011 at 4:16 pm

  10. Cathy – That wood is someone’s bed frame! Rudi drove past it and called our landscaper real fast and asked him to pick it up in his truck.
    And then, within ten minutes, the owners who had tossed it out realized how silly it was (they are gardeners). But by the time they saw it here Rudi had it all planted. They were quite gracious!

    I’d definitely want to ensure the toxicity of the pressure-treated lumber didn’t leach into the soil. If the marine varnish will work – go for it!

    We’ve started a mulch revolution down here. Once we did it, lots of people began to ask for it too. Not sure about termites though… I will have to mention it to Rudi!

    photokunstler said this on 30 October 2011 at 4:20 pm

  11. Poor passion flower vine. You’ll be missed. R.I.P. Love, Mar

    Mary Rothschild said this on 30 October 2011 at 11:26 pm

  12. She sure will, Mar.
    Thanks…

    photokunstler said this on 31 October 2011 at 10:07 am

Comments are closed.