First, there was successful propagation.
(Warning: I'm about to ramble on for paragraphs about my completely average method of dealing with cuttings. There are photos to follow, if you'd rather skip ahead.)
I took a couple of cuttings earlier in the summer for Mom, then took two more for myself. I'm not sure if Mom's are still alive, but mine are, despite being kept in tiny pots all this time, on restricted sunlight. The're small pants, but they're definitely growing-- so at least we know they're pretty easy to root!
For future reference, I've heard that you should not use rooting hormone on passion vine. For some reason, it actually makes them less likely to take root.
For my cuttings, all I did was cut about foot-long lengths from the tips of the vines, cut (preferably at an angle) about a quarter-inch below the bottom-most node of each length. (The node is the little swollen part where the leaves sprout from a vine or stem. These are the parts of the stem from which new growth will emanate-- including new roots.)
Next, I strip the leaves from the bottom-most two or three nodes. (It's important to note which part of the cutting is "up" and which is "down". Usually, leaves grow at a slight angle so that they point up. You can also tell by looking at the leaves themselves. The tops of the leaves should face up when you plant your cuttings.) It doesn't hurt to also remove any tendrils-- and it's always best to cut off any flowers or buds from a cutting, because they take energy that the cutting should divert toward growing new roots. Preferably, there should be at least two good leaves left on each cutting. These will collect sunlight and feed the plant during rooting. Some people recommend leaving only two leaves. Others "allow" more. Personally, I'd aim for no fewer than two and no more than four or five. I just remove all the others with a snip or a pinch.
Stick the cutting into a small pot of loose soil. Some people are picky about the planting medium. For my cuttings, I use whatever I have on hand. Fresh potting soil is nice, but plain old soil from the garden works, too. Certain plants do better with specific types of soil/sand/etc., and garden soil may contain pests that can kill a cutting-- but it doesn't hurt to try-- especially if you own the parent plant and can try again later. For most cuttings, you want something that will hold moisture but still drain (not stay waterlogged, which causes rot).
You want a couple of nodes below the surface, and it's best to have a pot deep enough that the end of the cutting isn't touching the bottom of the pot. Multiple cuttings can go into the same small pot. They don't need much room to root, and once they do, you can repot them to give each successful new plant more room to grow.
Water immediately-- and keep them watered regularly. They shouldn't be soaking wet all the time, but neither should they be allowed to dry out too much. If you don't live in a summer sauna, like I do, you may want to look into creating a moist microclimate for them. This can be accomplished as simply as by placing a clear plastic bag or half a 2-liter cola bottle over the cutting. (I don't know enough about it to advise in much detail... Lack of humidity is rarely a problem here!)
I like to keep my cuttings in a reasonably/partly shady spot, since they'll wilt and dry out too quickly in the sun. After a while (two weeks?), you can test them by gently pulling them to see if they've taken root. If there's resistance to a gentle tug, you know they've started rooting. (If not, you'll probably want to start over again with fresh cuttings, because if they haven't taken root by then, it's unlikely they ever will.) You can also just wait until you start to see new growth. New leaves mean success!
This is essentially how I do all my cuttings, though now that I have some rooting hormone, I do sometimes use that, if I think about it and feel like messing with it. For a plant that I have easy access to, however, I often won't bother with the hormone. So many plants (many salvias, for instance) root very easily without it. There are times when I will try rooting in water-- especially cuttings from small trees or large shrubs-- but I think I might have better luck skipping straight to the soil. I'm sure it varies by plant-- and probably from person to person, for whatever reason.
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Phew. Enough of that...
Successful propagation aside, this was a banner year for the passion vines because (for some unknown reason) the Gulf fritillary butterflies came later in the season, compared to last year. I'm not sure which is closer to the norm, but this summer I didn't see the first orange butterfly for weeks and weeks-- months, even-- later than last year. Once they reached our area, they weren't shy about laying their eggs. There are tons of caterpillars at various stages of growth, now, but in the months before their arrival, the vines have had the chance to grow substantially larger, this summer. It's been great!
This butterfly laid an egg on a dead stem near the passion vine, rather than on the vine itself. I guess that's probably close enough.
Here's a caterpillar that's made it to a good size:
There are three at various stages in this last photo. They're not the prettiest things, with those unfriendly-looking spikes, but they're interesting-- and the butterflies are nice to have around the garden.
It's amazing to me that butterflies whose caterpillars have special dietary needs can find the right plant, out of all the miles and acres that don't have the correct vegetation. What a feat, for such tiny creatures!
