PlantFiles: Purple Velvet Plant, Purple Passion Vine, Trailing Purple Passion Plant
Gynura aurantiaca 'Purple Passion'

This is a beautiful, fast-growing plant. But there is some type of disease on the leaves lately. Looks like lots of white colored bugs, covering most of the leaves. Help!

Mary Lou

I killed a couple of these before I figured out how to take care of them. NEVER LET THE LEAVES GET WET! I'm actually growing these very successfully in containers without drainage. Here's how: Wait until the soil dries out, even until the first day the plant wilts. Then WATER THE SOIL, taking care not to let any of the leaves or stems get drops on them. (If you're not sure how much to water, then use a containter that drains until you figure it out.)

Watering from the bottom works great, too, just don't let it sit in the water too long. Leave it long until the roots have soaked up all they want, maybe 20 minutes and then take away the excess.

You should also avoid very humid conditions (e.g. bathrooms).

I read on another site that this plants fruit can be used for cooking and jellies. However, the leaves and the stems are poisonous if ingested. I havent had mine flower yet but when it does I plan on finding out how the fruit tastes!

I plan to start clipping it and making more of this plant I really love it as its my favorite color, purple! This is one of the first plants I have had to actually grow and care for the other 3 are doing great as well.

UPDATE: I have had success with the roots forming on a clipping, when should i transfer it to soil in a pot???

This plant is taking over my grow room which is fine by me. It gives a very nice purple color which if in bright light the leaves will turn almost yellow/orange, dry up then fall off. This does like the shady part of my indoor garden.
I pluck off the fan leaves which then gives the new top the power to grow resulting in a bushy look. I feed miracle grow to the ones in the grow room and they do fantastic!!
Only bugs I have noticed who like this plant is the white scale. I grow organic the best I can and use natural predators as well as my fingers to kill the scales.


I also have a couple of the variegated forms of this plant. Very striking with the white/purple fuzzy leaves. This variegated form grows slowly in our grow room, however in our kitchen (east facing window with a florescent light above it) where it is not so warm a couple tops have reached the ceiling. My parrots dirty water is pored into this plants soil which it appears to love as a fertilizer!! Not as easy to take cuttings as the normal plant it seams. Again pinching back fan leaves makes this plant bushy too.
Bugs; I have yet to find a bug who likes these plants.

I purchased this plant about a five weeks ago, and then another about a week ago.

These plants came from Wally World, so naturally the soil was dry and the plants were wilting. I took the best looking plant out of the batch each time.

I watered the first plant from the top, but it seemed to be slipping even more. Then I read about watering from the bottom. So I re-potted the plant (barely any soil, all roots!) and started watering it from the bottom. The first plant nearly doubled in size.

The second plant has been re-potted as well (those poor roots!) and is starting to perk up its leaves.

Both plants seem to do well in low light. I haven't had any real trouble out of either of then. It's nice to have a plant as pretty as this not be such a hassle.

Update (September 15, 2008):

Didn't take long before I got the hang of this plant. They love light, especially near a window. I water them by placing the pot in a drainage tray, letting it soak up the water for about an hour, then take it away. I've done this every time the surface soil feels a little dry.

Now I have these things growing everywhere. I started out with two, and from cuttings and a little time I now have four decent sized vines. They've practically taken over the livingroom window (at least 6ft wide window).

I've had much success with cuttings (given away quite a few small rooted plants). A piece with at least three leaves seems to have the best chance for survival. I'll take a cutting, place it in water, and set it on the window sill. In about three or four days it will have roots. From there, the plant in placed in some nice moist soil. Once more, the plant is left on the window sill.

A very fun plant to grow.

This plant definatly dont take neglect very well at all. I have not had much sucess with them in the past but this year my sister gave me a small clipping maybe 6 inches. I put it in a clear glass container of water on the window cill on the south side of my house. I had good roots in about 3 weeks.

I bought pots from wally world that have the bottom watering tray, which i dont use i just like it to see how much water is in the bottom of the pot. I still water from the top though. Now i have the plant hangin on my back porch on the east side of my house and its a monster. I have 5 big shoots off of it so far, the longest one is about 5 feet long. So far it actually has flowered twice this year.

When i potted the clipping i used the soil ya get at wally world that feeds the plant for 9 months. When it flowers it flowers orange the the flowers turn like dandelions. Next time it flowers i will have to pick the dandelion like seeds and plant them and see if it will grow new plants.

Two years ago I got the plant as a clipping from my neighbor and as soon as it had enough roots I potted it. It made a great hanging plant and tripled in size. Since then I have made clippings for my family and friends as its a favorite. However, I had to trim the main plant it seemed to be dying and I wasnt sure what to do. The clippings I made rooted but they dont seem to be taking to the soil. Should I put them in water again and let the roots grow longer?
Thanks for any feed back
-dave in maine

I just bought this plant a few days ago, and I'm new to taking care of plants. This plant is beautiful with its purple leaves but, my plant is a little small. I've been told to pinch it off? How big does my plant have to be to do this, and where do I pinch them off?

My friend gave me a purple passion start a year and a half ago. I love it. It took off as soon as I got it. I have found that if you cut the stem so you have at least 4 leaves and stick it in soil it roots it's self. My plant seems to love high filtered light, and that seems to keep it nice and purple. They benefit most from a bottom watering planter. It's a beautiful addition for any home.

I purchased this plant about 2 weeks ago and it looked like it was in good condition. Two days after the purchase, I went out of town for 5 days and when I came back, the plant had wilted considerably. I made sure to water it before I left and when I came back, the soil was still moist and actually there was some water sitting in the pot base. I was so disappointed because my mother used to have cuttings that thrived in plain water so I'm really surprised that they wilted so fast and is continuing to wilt. I know they're easy to grow so I have to ask....what happened?

This plant also propagates well from sticking a branch with leaves in a cup of water. (do not allow the leaves to sit in the water or they will shrivel up and always water from the bottom of the pot.......just like you do with african violets) They love to sit on window sills with indirect sun while growing roots. Ten days ago I placed three short branches with leaves in water and today the new roots were over 2 inches long.

The flowers are usually bright orange and they can smell like a skunk to some people.....me included! I tend to pluck the new buds off, however my mom loves their flower's scent.

I believe this plant is poisonous to pets.
Charleen43