If there’s one plant that completely steals the show in our garden, it’s the lilikoi, also known as passion fruit. This tropical powerhouse of flavor has taken over not just our yard—but our hearts, too. It’s juicy, fragrant, and packed with enough sweetness and tang to become a favorite summer treat at our house.
In this post, we’re going to walk you through everything you need to know about growing passion fruit—when and how to plant it, how to care for it, and the best ways to enjoy the harvest. Whether you’re a newbie or a seasoned gardener looking to add a splash of tropical beauty to your yard, this guide will help you bring passion fruit into your life.
Why Passion Fruit Deserves a Spot in Your Garden
Let’s start with the obvious: passion fruit tastes amazing. But beyond that, the vine is evergreen, fast-growing, and low-maintenance. It also doubles as a privacy screen, a trellis showstopper, and even an ecosystem for beneficial insects like the gulf fritillary butterfly, which only lays eggs on this plant.
We’ve had one growing since 2021, and it’s now a lush, sprawling vine that’s climbed our walls and overtaken the fence.
When to Plant Passion Fruit
We’ve had one growing since 2021, and it’s now a lush, sprawling vine that’s climbed our walls and overtaken the fence.
Where to Get Passion Fruit Plants
We got ours from Walter Andersen Nursery, and it’s been producing fruit for the past couple of years, it gave us 100–200 fruit, and this year, we’re expecting upwards of 300.
🌱 Pro tip: Nurseries are your best bet. Start with a young, healthy plant that’s had a good start in life. While it’s fun to experiment with seeds (we did too!), they’re less reliable and often slower to mature.
Watering and Feeding Your Passion Fruit
Being a tropical plant, passion fruit loves water and nutrients—especially when fruiting.
- Ours is on a drip irrigation system, getting a deep soak every few days.
- We use fruit tree fertilizer and compost 2–3 times a year to keep it thriving.
With dozens (sometimes hundreds!) of fruit developing at once, your vine will need all the support it can get.
Training & Pruning Your Vine
Passion fruit vines are vigorous growers. Think 15–20 feet (or more) per year. Left alone, they’ll sprawl over everything. So give them structure early:
- Install wires or a trellis for them to climb.
- Easy can spans a 25-foot section.
- Prune in late fall or winter, after fruiting ends.
- Don’t prune more than one-third at a time.
Fruit dangles down like ornaments, ready to be picked.
Harvesting: When and How
Here’s the fun part: they tell you when they’re ready.
- Purple varieties (like ours) drop off the vine when ripe.
- Don’t worry—they’re tough. Even falling 8 feet doesn’t bruise them.
- Harvest season starts around May, but if you’re lucky (like we are in zone 10A), your plant might do a second round of fruiting in October.
✂️ Bonus Tip: If your vine tries to flower during pruning season, pinch those buds off. It’ll thank you next year with an explosion of fruit.
Dealing With Challenges
Truthfully, passion fruit is low-maintenance, but here are two things to watch out for:
Excess Fruit: This is a good problem. You’ll probably end up with more fruit than you can eat. Share, preserve, or freeze them whole for future treats.
Sun Scald: Fruits exposed during the peak heat of summer (especially August) can wrinkle and taste bitter.
How to Enjoy Passion Fruit
Our favorite part? Eating it.
- Slice it open and scoop out the insides.
- Chill in the fridge for a few days—they keep well.
- Add to:
- Yogurt
- Smoothies
- Cheesecake
- Passion fruit bars
- Or just eat them by the spoonful!
Each fruit is packed with sweet, tart, tropical flavor—like nature’s sour candy. The yellow variety we grow is more floral and mellow, while the purple ones are bold and bright.
🍹 Want to preserve them?
Pulse the pulp in a blender and strain the juice. Freeze it for later use in drinks, desserts, or baking.
Final Thoughts: Why You Should Grow Passion Fruit
If you’ve been on the fence about planting passion fruit, consider this your sign. It’s beautiful, productive, and a joy to grow—and once it’s established, it gives more than you’ll know what to do with.
Whether you start from seed or pick one up from a nursery, the key is: just start. With a bit of structure and care, you’ll soon have a lush vine full of delicious fruit.
