So I’ve been considering adding some maypop (passiflora incarnata) to my yard. I really want it and it’s a really beneficial plant here, but I’m kinda… scared of it. 😂😅
I have a spot in my mind for it. It’s about 2 feet off the road (as far from my house as you can get 😂)which has a really gravelly strip nearby (you can actually see the spot in my last post) and I have a little wooden yard marker. It’s full sun. Clay soil. I was going to give it an obelisk type trellis to climb and a nice mulched area around it to try and watch for runners. The surrounding area is walked pretty heavily (no sidewalks) so it has to stay mowed and I won’t be able to really plant anything there, so I was hoping that would keep it from taking over my life. But even then I’ve been hesitant to buy it because of how aggressive people say it is.
So can we talk about your experiences with maypop? Thoughts? Tips? Strategies for keeping it from becoming my yard’s new overlord?
by Suspicious_Note1392
13 Comments
You should 🫣🫣🫣 yes it is a nice plant but ……..you will have seedlings everywhere it grows in the grass , easy to pull but it’s too much , if I would have known I would have picked another specie . I stopped counting last year I pulled probably over 50 non stop 10’ away from the plant in my grass . Plant Coral Honeysuckle the best behaved vine my favorite I have 3 of them never seen a seedling .
I’ve wanted this in my garden… I was wondering if I played in a pot instead of the ground if it wouldn’t take over everything…
I’m planting it on a obelisk and putting it in a sunken pot to prevent (or at least tame) the runners.
…if I can get the damn seeds to germinate. I winter sowed according to instructions and it’s being difficult (along with its buddy purple clematis).
I grew it on a fence years ago having basically no idea about it and received it as a gift. It got pretty aggressive and I eventually dug it out after about three years because it became clear that it needed a lot more room, and was popping up in pathways etc. I don’t recall any issues with seedlings, just vegetative spreading. It was a nice plant though and I’m trying to figure out a spot where I can put one at our current house.
Mine refuses to grow. I put a trellis up for it in an area it can go bonkers, and it does nothing.
I love maypop but I made the mistake of planting it too close to my house. I thought I could control it but it pops up everywhere. I have dug up portions of it only to have it sprout up 5 feet away. I have been able to get more plants off the root sections but unfortunately this year I will have to hit it with some herbicide in that location.
Maybe it’s because my lawn is naturally hard but I have had one in the ground for 3-4 years and I have 4 that have shot up within 6 feet of it. There was one at a park that is near our house and it only spread about the same. It did have a few more sprout up. I don’t think it is something to worry about. If more pop up, they are easy to dig up and plant elsewhere.
I grew it for the first time last year and it does great in a pot if you’re worried about spacing! Make sure it has plenty of sun and it’ll grow like crazy.
I planted one in a garden bed in front of the house. Which was a major blunder on my part. It pops up everywhere in the bed, it goes under the sidewalk and pops up on the other side, and it even somehow showed up in the adjacent garage lol. I would only plant it in an area where you are prepared to let it take over that area.
Maypop didn’t attract as many butterflies as corkystem, so we stuck with corkystem.
I planted it in the yard at both houses I’ve owned. The first one, it sprawled all over the partially sunny open yard areas, but never really climbed anything more than 4 feet tall. The second house, it basically stays in a corner and comes back each year, sends a couple of vines over a nearby bush which I have to look for to find, fruits, and goes back for winter. I think it’s aggressive in beds, but it’s not going to climb like a vine (not like Virginia creeper or something like it), and anywhere you run a lawnmower that will keep it down. When winter comes, the vines all fall apart and go into the leaf litter as opposed to staying on bushes. So it cleans itself up every winter.
I feel like it having it’s own bed is fine, and it will be fine for you. It will send runners underground and up maybe 15 feet out.
It’ll likely be fine, I wouldn’t worry too much.
I’ve been looking everywhere for one. Nobody seems to carry it. Where have you guys found it? Also does it fruit enough to make it worth the addition?