Passionfruit (Panama Red)

I planted this passionfruit vine just over six months ago. Mainly to cover an ugly fence, but then there was the added bonus of having the fruit too. While living in the Blue Mountains many years ago, we did try the yellow banana shaped passionfruit, but that one only gave us lots of vine and flowers, but never fruit. So you imagine my surprise when only a few months goes by, and we have this already. The very first fruit ripened and fell to the ground, unbruised and ready to eat. As you can see above, there are many more to come, and that picture only shows about 1/8 of the vine. The neighbours on the other side of the fence are thrilled too.

Cut in half to reveal it's fleshy, sweet and tarty pulp.

I Googled passionfruit to find some history of the plant and it is THANKS to New Zealand Passionfruit Growers Association for providing it.

The purple passionfruit (Passiflora edulis) is a native of the rainforest margins in the Amazon region of Brazil and perhaps also of Paraguay and northern Argentina. It has adapted to the cooler sub-tropics and the high altitude tropics.
There are many other passiflora species spread widely around the globe and about 50 species are native to New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific and South East Asia.

The flower...

Passionfruit acquired its name from Spanish missionaries who thought parts of the plant's flower resembled different religious symbols. The Jesuit missionaries who accompanied the Conquistadors to South America saw in its striking flower a means of illustrating the Crucifixion; the 10 petals and sepals represented the apostles, the crown of thorns was seen in the filaments, the five anthers represent the five wounds, the three stigmas were allied with the nails used to pierce the hands and feet of Jesus and the vine's tendrils were equated with the whips.

Flower image courtesy of Google images.

A New Zealand Garden.

This garden belongs to a cyber friend of mine in New Zealand, Kerry.

It has been used for her sons wedding a wee while back and is again being used for her daughters wedding in late March.

I love her clever use of both annuals and perennials, giving colour all the year round.

And what a lovely peaceful spot to have a rest. Mind you, knowing what I know of Kerry, I am sure she doesn't do that too often. Like most gardens, there is always something else to do, and can be seen as soon as you sit down.

A very well thought out garden. Thank you for sharing Kerry. Good luck with the upcoming wedding.

Pohutakawa

An Internet friend from a forum I belong to, lives in New Zealand. Kerry had a bunch of this fabulously bright and Christmasy flower in her sitting room over Christmas. When she showed us the photograph of her vase, I just had to investigate more. Such a wonderful colour, so festive. Thank you Kerry. In New Zealand people look forward to the flowering of the pohutakawa, Metrosideros excelsa, which is popularly known as the New Zealand Christmas Tree. Pohutukawa [pronounced po-hootah-kahwah] is a coastal tree often growing with its roots clinging on to the rocky sides of cliffs or where the land begins and the beach sand ends. The flowers are often featured on New Zealand-produced Christmas cards.