Passion

There's a lot of passion in the air, as Valentine's Day approaches. What better time for me to show off my beautiful passion flower vine that I have grown for the last two years. I took these three pictures on different days late last summer.

My friend Randy grew it from seed and gave me the inch tall seedling two years ago. I was especially happy to receive this species, because my Mother grew them during my childhood. I remember as a little boy being so fascinated by this flower.





















I am passionate about flowers; that is how I make my living. In my spare time at home, I also enjoy a little gardening. The passion flower (passiflora) is one of my favorite plants to grow.

Until I looked it up on Wikipedia (the title link), I never realized that the Passiflora are a genus of about 500 species of flowering plants, the namesakes of the family Passifloraceae.

They are mostly vines, with some being shrubs, and a few species being herbaceous.

Nine species of Passiflora are native to the USA, found from Ohio to the north, west to California and south to the Florida Keys. (for more information, click the title link).



















pas⋅sion (from Dictionary.com)

1. any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate.
2. strong amorous feeling or desire; love; ardor.
3. strong sexual desire; lust.
4. an instance or experience of strong love or sexual desire.
5. a person toward whom one feels strong love or sexual desire.
6. a strong or extravagant fondness, enthusiasm, or desire for anything: a passion for music.
7. the object of such a fondness or desire: Accuracy became a passion with him.
8. an outburst of strong emotion or feeling: He suddenly broke into a passion of bitter words.
9. violent anger.
10. the state of being acted upon or affected by something external, esp. something alien to one's nature or one's customary behavior (contrasted with action ).
11. (often initial capital letter) Theology.
a. the sufferings of Christ on the cross or His sufferings subsequent to the Last Supper.
b. the narrative of Christ's sufferings as recorded in the Gospels.
12. Archaic. the sufferings of a martyr.

Origin: 1125–75; ME (<> late OE passiōn), special use of LL passiō suffering, submission, deriv. of L passus, ptp. of patī to suffer, submit; see -ion