re: honest question…why do so many of you soak your yard with chemicals?

The plant shop attached to Barracuda in BR has a Southern guide book on plants/herbs/flowers/etc. that I almost picked up. That might provide useful info as well.

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Yeah, if you get takers on the passion flower it will be a shock to see them all. The plant should survive, though.

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Yeah, i pretty much bought it to be caterpillar food, like a science experiment, but the plant is pretty big even after 6 months of winter growth, so i’m hoping for fruit.

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Is passion fruit a perennial

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Yes. Some varieties are more hearty than others. Some are more cold hearty and can stay green all Winter, unless it is an extended hard freeze. Then they may die back, but come back vigorously in the Spring.

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is it native to Louisiana?

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It is. Some varieties are "more native" than others, meaning it is the type that has always grown in the area. Those types are the ideal ones because they are more adapted to your specific area. You can still plant a variety that is a hybrid or from another area in the country, it just may not be as well adapted.

The LNSP has a list of nurseries/growers on their site. You can can check them out and see the variety of passion vines they offer. I looked yesterday and none of them have any for sale right now, but they do show them on their plant lists.
LNSP - Plant and Seed Resources

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I have to assume that some amount of the chemicals runs off into creeks/river/bays. How bad they are, if at all, I don't know. I don't trust Bayer, et al to fully tell us the long-term affects or if they even know or if they'd rather not even know.

I know if I use as little chemical as possible, then that much less of potentially harmful stuff ends up in creeks and rivers where our kids and their kids will hopefully play.

We all enjoy plenty of food at relatively cheap prices in large part because of farmers utilizing chemicals. I assume the farmers are using it as judicially as possible for reasons of cost and label requirements. Just a necessary evil.
Now joe-blow homeowner mixing talstar at 10x the recommended rate and spraying everything down in his yard because he saw a mosquito might not be doing the environment any favors.

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Not scientific, but it's a known fact that aquatic species are indicator species of gauging pollution levels. Tadpoles, for example.

Our neighborhood lake is 4.5 acres with a drainage basin of 92 acres. About 50% of that drainage basin is manicured bermuda with all kinds of chemicals. And those homes date back to the 90's.

25+ years of runoff into this pond, and it is teeming with life. Millions of tadpoles every spring, millions of frogs too. Turtles. Snakes. Blue Herons. Kingfishers. Huge fish. Small fish. Too many fish to be honest, for the pond's size.

None of that runoff has done anything to hurt the creatures in that lake. In fact, perhaps a little fertilizer runoff is a good thing for plankton, the foundation of the food chain.

if anyone wants maypop I have thousands
it comes up everywhere but it dies down nicely when it freezes

Beautiful flowers and edible fruit

Careful with the bee balm, it is in the mint family and spreads easily. It smells great and will attract all sorts of pollinators, just put it somewhere that you can keep it hemmed up if you don't want it taking over a spot.

Passion flower actually gets its name from Christianity.

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The genus Passiflora was named after Jesuit priests found the first specimen in South America. They thought the plant resembled a vision described by St. Francis of Assisi - a vine crawling up the cross where Jesus was crucified. They found religious meaning relating to Jesus' death in all the parts of the flower: 10 petals and sepals represented all the apostles except Judas and Peter, 5 stamens represented the 5 wounds, climbing tendrils represented scourges to beat Jesus, etc.

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ETA i don’t think the native American name is known. I guess each tribe would have their own name for it in their particular language.

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I'll bet you have a picture of Al Gore above the mantle.

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That's a pretty ignorant statement, and you seem so proud of it.

Do you want an honest answer?
It’s a dumb question… Why do you cut your hair? Mother Nature intended for it to grow freely.
Why do you cut your grass? Mother Nature intended for it to grow.
Why did you most likely cut trees down to build your home? Mother Nature wanted those trees there.