Not Palms But… Passiflora Edulis Survives One of The Worst Winters In Washington, DC In 40 Years (2025-2026)

[jwf1983]

NoMa/Capitol Hill (Downtownish, Washington, DC—Zone 8a

This winter was absolutely brutal and relentless.  It had been unusually cold during the day for many weeks (high30’s-low 40’s), and unlike most winters, there were virtually no mild breaks in the cold.  My wife and I returned from 3 weeks in London, mid to late January, and returned to an ice ramp over top of the stairs leading to our front down.  We’ve lived here, in different neighborhoods in DC proper, for a total of near 25 years between us.  The year of “Snowmaggedon” was not one of those years.  I had never seen anything like it here—6 inches of thick ass ice.  Driving was a nightmare for two weeks.  Oh, and there was that 2 week stretch of low temperatures that ranged from about 2F through the teens, depending on whether you lived in the burbs or the city.  I’ve know for sometime that our neighborhood was likely one of, if not THE warmest location anywhere in the area.  It’s consistently warmer than many places far south of here(particularly our minimum temps), like Richmond, Norfolk, Raleigh, Atlanta.  Especially during severe cold snaps that affect the whole eastern seaboard..

Our winter minimum temp was 17.6F (2 nights), with many (about 6-7 others) in the 21-24 range during that same awful stretch.  When normally we’d have some of our days “warm up” to 50 or so, this past winter it was few and far between.

I had long since resigned myself to the fact that a lot of palms and plants were likely cooked-Butia, pineapple guava, maybe even a couple Sago.  I never even questioned the Brazilian Passiflora Edulis vine that grew so vigorously, and yelled many lbs of delicious fruit from September to December—I knew that plant had ZERO shot.  Until today…

Out on the edge of our grass, next to our holly tree, 3 or 4 small, but thick shoots, about 3 feet high, as of April 18, with undeniable Passiflora Edulis leaves.  I could not believe what I saw.  I have no idea how the root system could’ve made it through the horrible winter—or that it could make it through any marginally cold winter in Washington, DC, heat island or otherwise.  This plant is NOT hardy.

 

Can anyone explain this to me?  I’m completely at a loss for how this was even possible. 

[Silas_Sancona]

1 hour ago, jwf1983 said:

NoMa/Capitol Hill (Downtownish, Washington, DC—Zone 8a

This winter was absolutely brutal and relentless.  It had been unusually cold during the day for many weeks (high30’s-low 40’s), and unlike most winters, there were virtually no mild breaks in the cold.  My wife and I returned from 3 weeks in London, mid to late January, and returned to an ice ramp over top of the stairs leading to our front down.  We’ve lived here, in different neighborhoods in DC proper, for a total of near 25 years between us.  The year of “Snowmaggedon” was not one of those years.  I had never seen anything like it here—6 inches of thick ass ice.  Driving was a nightmare for two weeks.  Oh, and there was that 2 week stretch of low temperatures that ranged from about 2F through the teens, depending on whether you lived in the burbs or the city.  I’ve know for sometime that our neighborhood was likely one of, if not THE warmest location anywhere in the area.  It’s consistently warmer than many places far south of here(particularly our minimum temps), like Richmond, Norfolk, Raleigh, Atlanta.  Especially during severe cold snaps that affect the whole eastern seaboard..

Our winter minimum temp was 17.6F (2 nights), with many (about 6-7 others) in the 21-24 range during that same awful stretch.  When normally we’d have some of our days “warm up” to 50 or so, this past winter it was few and far between.

I had long since resigned myself to the fact that a lot of palms and plants were likely cooked-Butia, pineapple guava, maybe even a couple Sago.  I never even questioned the Brazilian Passiflora Edulis vine that grew so vigorously, and yelled many lbs of delicious fruit from September to December—I knew that plant had ZERO shot.  Until today…

Out on the edge of our grass, next to our holly tree, 3 or 4 small, but thick shoots, about 3 feet high, as of April 18, with undeniable Passiflora Edulis leaves.  I could not believe what I saw.  I have no idea how the root system could’ve made it through the horrible winter—or that it could make it through any marginally cold winter in Washington, DC, heat island or otherwise.  This plant is NOT hardy.

 

Can anyone explain this to me?  I’m completely at a loss for how this was even possible. 

I'd been wondering how stuff had fared thru the winter back there..  Esp. this plant. 

Only thing i can think of is some of the roots got under the concrete,  which helped keep the soil near it warmer / from freezing ..deep enough that it would kill the roots. in that area.   

Ilex ( Holly bush ) could have done the same thing ( Helping to keep the soil near them warmer, thus, keeping Passiflora roots from being killed ) 

Pretty neat, regardless. 

You'll have to share an update when it starts flowering / fruiting again 

[jwf1983]

You may be right about the location within our yard.  There a concrete foot path that leads down steps and out of the back gate to the alley.  The original location of the Passiflora Edulis is near there, behind a rose tree filled with Spanish Moss, and next to a Sabal Defuniak seedling.  Last summer the passionflower vine reached over that footpath, vigorously growing in and on top of that holly.  I didn’t know that this variety could spread like the Incarnata variety (native to this area or the Southeastern US), but here we are…

I always know that, at least in this neighbors, with our typical first freeze occurring the last 3-5 days in November to the first 7-10 or so in December, and our last winter freeze typically sometime in the back half of Feb to the first week of March (with a handful of somewhat close calls possible for several weeks after) that we have a long enough season for the vine to explode with growth.  I was always concerned about the time for the fruit to fully ripen, and, I must admit, it’s very much a close call here, with the bulk of the fruit showing in September, and then requiring 3 months or so to ripen.  But we managed to get many lbs worth of fruit picked by end of November into December.  It seems that the more heat and humidity, the better—and we do get quite a bit of that from May-September, which is only amplified by the concrete jungle around us, and dense foliage around our house.   It’s often uncomfortable to spend time out there in the summer because of it (and the bloodthirsty colonies of Aedes Aegypti and Tiger mosquitoes.  But it seems to the right environment for the vine and fruit to flourish. 
 

We have Trachy f, Butia, cycus r, Sabal minor and palmetto (Defuniak), fig, feijoa, and an olive tree.  Of all of them, I thought there’d be ZERO chance for the Passiflora Edulis to come out of this winter alive—but, nature finds a way.  At this point, I’m certain we’ll at least have plenty of fruit again this year.  
 

This is why I love the zone pushing (within reason).  Surprises like this just blow me away.  The fruit is damn good too!

Ill update periodically, and add pictures as the year progresses.

[Silas_Sancona]

4 hours ago, jwf1983 said:

You may be right about the location within our yard.  There a concrete foot path that leads down steps and out of the back gate to the alley.  The original location of the Passiflora Edulis is near there, behind a rose tree filled with Spanish Moss, and next to a Sabal Defuniak seedling.  Last summer the passionflower vine reached over that footpath, vigorously growing in and on top of that holly.  I didn’t know that this variety could spread like the Incarnata variety (native to this area or the Southeastern US), but here we are…

As i'm sure you're already well aware of,  even in cooler areas, " hard " landscaping surfaces,  like a Concrete or stone walkway,  will warm up faster / keep the ground near them warmer, esp. if facing south.   

Imagine it would get complicated but,   ..i've always wanted to see someone building a house / renovating their yards in a cool / colder area install temp. sensers under say a concrete walkway,  or in a planting area covered in rock,   both a few inches deep,  and at a depth of a couple feet  ..in addition to installing them at similar depths out in other parts of their yards around their property,  just to see what each areas' micro Micro -level climate looks like / How hard surfaces like that actually effect freezing depth / length, etc..

Admittedly, i was also surprised to hear that it appears to have returned from the roots since i also assumed these didn't do the root suckering / sprouting thing  ..or don't recall plants i'd grown / those grown by my grandparents doing that. 

Could be wrong of course, but imagine any seed that managed to be deposited would've been killed by the cold there, so, ..returning from the roots seems to be the only logical answer. 

Suppose you could test that theory  by dropping some seeds in an out of the way spot this fall and seeing if the come up next spring.

Speed and just how big they can get?  ..ohh yeah, lol..   Quite the monster if / when happy.   Think my grandparents had started from 2 plants originally,  that quickly covered a 15ft section of a 7ft tall fence,  top to bottom.   Only water i recall it getting was whatever runoff occurred on that side of the house when it rained. 

One i grew from seed off their plants  was just about the same size by it's 2nd summer in the ground. 

Passiflora x " Purple Tiger " i'd brought w/ me when i moved to FL?  Covered 16ft of chain link fence in one summer  after rooting itself in the ground.  Was in a 3gal pot.

 

4 hours ago, jwf1983 said:

I always know that, at least in this neighbors, with our typical first freeze occurring the last 3-5 days in November to the first 7-10 or so in December, and our last winter freeze typically sometime in the back half of Feb to the first week of March (with a handful of somewhat close calls possible for several weeks after) that we have a long enough season for the vine to explode with growth.  I was always concerned about the time for the fruit to fully ripen, and, I must admit, it’s very much a close call here, with the bulk of the fruit showing in September, and then requiring 3 months or so to ripen.  But we managed to get many lbs worth of fruit picked by end of November into December.  It seems that the more heat and humidity, the better—and we do get quite a bit of that from May-September, which is only amplified by the concrete jungle around us, and dense foliage around our house.   It’s often uncomfortable to spend time out there in the summer because of it (and the bloodthirsty colonies of Aedes Aegypti and Tiger mosquitoes.  But it seems to the right environment for the vine and fruit to flourish. 

Can't remember how long it took < on -average >  but fruit produced as it started to cool down after late September did seem to take longer to finish up ripening..  Pretty sure we even had  ripe fruit right around / just after X-Mass a few times. 

Humidity + heat,  A Passiflora's dream..  Even for those grown more for flowers than any fruit,  inc. our locally / regionally native " desert "  sps..  

..Due to this years incredibly warm winter here,  'Skitters are already out for blood,  in #s.   Summer ahead?  could be a doozy,  Mosquito -wise. 

Honestly,  I myself ..and all the leafy things, will take all the humidity we can get  ..compared to a summer of  un- ending 110F+ days  / 86F+ nights   ..and barely any rain. 

 

5 hours ago, jwf1983 said:

This is why I love the zone pushing (within reason).  Surprises like this just blow me away.  The fruit is damn good too!

 Agree, 100%,   As long as someone understands   ..and fully accepts..   that not every push may end in reward,   ..this is exactly why -zone pushing is a good thing.. 

 In your case,  you now have important data / eye witnessed experience you can share with friends / etc folks there who might want to try growing these themselves.  

One of my neighbors may plant one or two in their yard this year.  Pretty sure another neighbor is growing them.   Regardless, 

Very curious how a glaze containing fresh Passion Fruit juice, and both Prickly Pear and Mesquite Bean Syrup would turn out. 

[TropicsEnjoyer]

On 4/18/2026 at 5:10 PM, jwf1983 said:

NoMa/Capitol Hill (Downtownish, Washington, DC—Zone 8a

This winter was absolutely brutal and relentless.  It had been unusually cold during the day for many weeks (high30’s-low 40’s), and unlike most winters, there were virtually no mild breaks in the cold.  My wife and I returned from 3 weeks in London, mid to late January, and returned to an ice ramp over top of the stairs leading to our front down.  We’ve lived here, in different neighborhoods in DC proper, for a total of near 25 years between us.  The year of “Snowmaggedon” was not one of those years.  I had never seen anything like it here—6 inches of thick ass ice.  Driving was a nightmare for two weeks.  Oh, and there was that 2 week stretch of low temperatures that ranged from about 2F through the teens, depending on whether you lived in the burbs or the city.  I’ve know for sometime that our neighborhood was likely one of, if not THE warmest location anywhere in the area.  It’s consistently warmer than many places far south of here(particularly our minimum temps), like Richmond, Norfolk, Raleigh, Atlanta.  Especially during severe cold snaps that affect the whole eastern seaboard..

Our winter minimum temp was 17.6F (2 nights), with many (about 6-7 others) in the 21-24 range during that same awful stretch.  When normally we’d have some of our days “warm up” to 50 or so, this past winter it was few and far between.

I had long since resigned myself to the fact that a lot of palms and plants were likely cooked-Butia, pineapple guava, maybe even a couple Sago.  I never even questioned the Brazilian Passiflora Edulis vine that grew so vigorously, and yelled many lbs of delicious fruit from September to December—I knew that plant had ZERO shot.  Until today…

Out on the edge of our grass, next to our holly tree, 3 or 4 small, but thick shoots, about 3 feet high, as of April 18, with undeniable Passiflora Edulis leaves.  I could not believe what I saw.  I have no idea how the root system could’ve made it through the horrible winter—or that it could make it through any marginally cold winter in Washington, DC, heat island or otherwise.  This plant is NOT hardy.

 

Can anyone explain this to me?  I’m completely at a loss for how this was even possible. 

You are very lucky. I live in 9b florida and my edulis with like a 2inch diameter trunk got melted the winter last winter. Although it didn’t instantly die, most of the stems froze off and it spent half the year sulking with a bit of new growth but eventually the trunk rotted. I was lucky enough to have taken cuttings so it lives on by clone. It was planted against a stone retaining wall but I assume that it’s lower elevation relative to the rest of my yard made it suffer the harsher cold and frost. 

I also lost a huge passiflora alato-caerulea, I have one that survived because I put a shirt at the base of the trunk, not even on purpose it was to protect a different plant. That one is only propagated by cutting so I will definitely make a bunch of cuttings of that one for good measure. No fruit but the flower scent is something you can’t miss. To be fair I had lows in the mid 20s and for a mostly exposed vine that’s a death sentence. If you had bushes, grass and concrete as insulators even if they only helped by a few degrees that makes all the difference. 

I might not get any fruit this year from my edulis vine to be honest, but I’ll probably replant it next week or so either way, they grow really fast and I can at least propagate it a bit. 

[jwf1983]

You know, I think you just hit on one of the "theories" I've had for a while not.  Of course plants seem to adapt to their environment, soils, pests, and climate.  I have a bunch of what I consider "near-native" and zone-proximate species:  Spanish Moss, Ball Moss, Sabal minor, palmetto, Cycas revoluta--these are all pretty much bullet proof to the point that I don't worry much about them, or so much as look at them most of the winter.  I was surprised by the Tillandsia thriving here, because our winter winds is absolutely brutal, and, at 25 degrees and windy, dry... I don't know, I thought it would turn brown, stiff and blow away at some point.  But the clumps are so thick and long (and now dispersed in a few areas outside of our home, however it got there, completely exposed, that you'd have no idea that you were just 6 blocks from the Capitol, and not somewhere along the Pamlico Sound in North Carolina, or something.  My notion is that part of the adaptation of plants includes whatever adjustments they make seasonally, wherever they are.  Obviously, anything native to the East Coast, or Southeastern coast of the US, is going to inherently have some resistance to wild swings or fluctuations of temperatures in the winter.  While you guys in Florida are typically lucky enough to have middle 70's for highs throughout lots of your winter, my neighborhood average about 50 in January (this winter was much worse, however).  Despite seeing-sawing of temps in between cold fronts, we are just lucky to get to 48-54 degrees on any winter day.  That said, our location really stalls out around 20 degrees during even the most significant polar vortexes.  Maybe once or twice every winter, we will spend an hour or less blow, like this year 17.6 degrees--it happened 2 times for a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes or so.

Those same severe cold outbreaks are much more devastating for you folks in the Deep South, Florida, and Texas,  I'd imagine many of your plants, though maybe slower, growth continue to grow at times through winter, while our seem to go into a semi, or perhaps complete state of dormancy?  Us going from 50 or 38 degrees down to 19-20, while our outer suburbs will drift on down to 0 degrees or lower, and places much farther to the south, like Richmond, VA, Atlanta,  Charlotte will often fall significantly lower than us, at 25ft above sea level, wedged between the two tidewater rivers, and fortified by endless new high rise condos, industrial sites, Metro stations, bumper to bumper traffic and endless row homes stacked upon one another.  It's also why, at least from Mid-May through Mid-September, if you sat in our back yard or walked around our neighborhood, you'd probably not notice much of a change from where you are in Florida--93-97 degrees + with Dew Points always in the 70's, with stretches over 80 during that period. The city retains so much heat that in our neighborhood we typically have 3-4 weeks worth of nighttime lows from 80-85.  Unlike winter, summer you can't find a breeze--and it's primarily a walking city, so that does suck.  BUT, unlike you guys in FL or Houston or New Orleans, that window is only about 3.5 months.  I'm grateful for it though, because without it, I'm not sure how well the passionflowers (as well as some of the other plants) would progress.

I was just in Orlando for work 2 weeks ago.  The complete devastation of so many of the exotic palms and plants, really blew my mind.  Talking to one of my Uber drivers, he mentioned losing a Mango tree, Avacado, a Guava, and Pineapple Guava (Feijoa).  He seemed really bummed out, and said in 30 years he never saw anything like it--and looking around, I certainly can imagine.  We too have a pineapple guava in the ground (in a very poor spot without much winter sunlight, because I ran out of space ha).  It took some damage, but is exploding with growth as well.

 

I just think that many of our near-native or native southeastern coastal plants are "built" for wildness, and wicked temperature changes--within reason.  I also believe they adapt to their new or current environment, and they ultimately do what they need to to maintain, stay alive, and continue to flourish.  Even if that means going into a state of dormancy.  I'm sure a lot of your native plants are also built for, and, within reason, handle wild swings in temperatures from nasty cold fronts, but they just might not be able to take the consistent or prolongs cold that they seems to handle here, as they simply just are not used to it like they are used to it here.

This is what I love most about growing these plants and palms.  There's an inherent survivor's instinct in their DNA, and they do whatever it takes, sometimes with a little help from us, to keep on going.

 

To your point:  I do love the flowers, their unique scent, all the bees they bring into our back yard, know that that particular flower will likely turn into a delicious fruit that I will be hopefully eating in a few months.  Nice to have something still producing just before the holidays as well.  They are majestic, it really catches visitors off guard when they walk outside of our house and see how it's essentially the backdrop for our whole yard.  I will say though, even though I love the medicinal properties, and the fruit isn't terrible, Passiflora incarnata could be a HUGE mistake if you don't love them or have the space for them--they will consume EVERYTHING if you don't diligently weed out the shoots that appear just about everywhere.

[jwf1983]

[jwf1983]

Now sprouted with new shoots where the main, thick trunk took off when originally planted.  

[Josh76]

Maybe you have an extremely hardy variety there. Fancy sending some seeds to the UK for us to trial? 😜

[jwf1983]

17 minutes ago, Josh76 said:

Maybe you have an extremely hardy variety there. Fancy sending some seeds to the UK for us to trial? 😜

Ha! Funny, my wife and I travel to London, staying for a few weeks at a time, for work pretty much every 3 months or so.  Not sure what part of the UK you are in, but I’d be more than happy to send some seeds this year.  
 

I’m fairly certain that’s how these ended up around our back yard this spring anyway, through seeds dropped by birds or squirrels, I just don’t know how they could’ve made it through one of the most severe winters in memory, that included 2 weeks or so of 15cm of ice.  It usually doesn’t ever stay cold long enough for snow to last a day, let alone ice that thick.  
 

I’m not surprised by how many sub-tropicals/tropicals do well in the UK—I’ve seen many looking great in the parks around London.  The only thing I’ve noticed about Passiflora Edulis is that it seems to accelerate  its growth when it’s most disgustingly hot and humid.  We do get at least 3 solid months of that here, and the last couple years it was the time the vine fast expanded throughout the back yard trellises and fence, flowered as fruited, continuing until our first true freeze, typically the first days of December.  Sometimes I don’t think the fruit would come out as consistently flavorful (or at all) without that period of unrelenting heat and humidity.  All things considered, we seem to have just the right amount of growing day (barely), and just enough heat and humidity at the peak growth period. 
 

Id love to see how they turn out in the UK.

 

It’s worth noting, we also have native Passiflora Incarnata (Maypop) in the area and in our yard.  They can tolerate lots of cold, and typically start sending out new shoots from the ground, at random, and relentlessly, around May.  It’s borderline invasive, and unless you pull all the shoots as you see them, they will take over any space.  Last season Edulis and Incarnata competed, and overlapped in several locations in our yard. I don’t believe there’s any way they could hybridize, but nonetheless, it’s weird to see the “Edulis” popping up all over in a way they haven’t before.

[Josh76]

That's interesting that you mention incarnata because my first thought when I saw your post was to wonder if it was a hybrid between the two - that would certainly explain the hardiness. It seems there are records of that hybrid being made in the past:

https://growingfruit.org/t/hardy-edible-passiflora-hybrids-pedigrees/69650

Either way, I would happily trial some seeds but, as you mentioned, we might not get sufficient summer heat here. Pure incarnata struggles here and isn't reliable but some of its hybrids are.