Spring Showers Bring Maypop Flowers
When I was given the tiny, black seeds of a maypop a few years ago, I was warned: This plant will absolutely, without question, take over your garden. I heeded the warning to an extent, but I was sure I could manage my plants. After all, could this vine really be such a bully? And, in the ensuing years, has it actually taken over? Turns out, yes, it could; and, yes, it has. This fruit-bearing vine has colonized every square inch of my garden. Yet I’ve never once regretted growing the plant, and that’s for one very simple reason: Maypop vines produce the most beautiful flowers in the world.
Maypop () — also known as passionflower or passion vine — belongs to a mostly tropical botanical group called the Passifloraceae. The most famous member of this group is the tropical passionfruit (), an important commercial crop in many countries. Maypops, however, are native to the temperate, southeastern United States. You can find them growing in the wild as far north as southern Illinois and Indiana, and as far west as Kansas and Oklahoma. I wasn’t sure if the plant would survive at my home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but it’s
