Myles Irvine on left and Raphael Maier on right surrounded by Amorphophallus titanum in the Tropical Nurseries at Kew Gardens. Many thanks to Raphael for his kind words below. In time I am quite sure that he will surpass my efforts, particularly with his breeding program for cold hardy cultivars that produce tasty passionfruit. I would have achieved little without the generosity of Dr Roland Fischer, to me the greatest Passiflora breeder, who introduced a number of polyploid cultivars. Going back many years to the 1990s other excellent Passiflora breeders were Patrick Jesse John Worley and the Czech Leopold Ševčík. I must also credit Dr Les King (Passiflora Cultivar Registrar 2004-2011) for both encouraging me in my efforts and helping me to understand polyploidy better.
The best passionflower breeder worked in a gym!
Here is the story of Myles Irvine a plant breeding genius.
If you are into ornamental passionflowers then you can’t miss Myles.
This Scotsman living near London is a legend in Passiflora breeding. He has been growing and breeding passionflowers for over 30 years.
- He has created some of the best hardy ornamental passionflowers in the world.
- His masterpiece is Passiflora ‘Snow Queen’ an absolute stunning flowering plant.
- Tons of huge white flowers from spring till frost.
X But Myles has no PhD in plant breeding.
X He has no formal horticultural training.
X He has no big greenhouse or trialing field.
In fact he is a retired gym owner!
Passionflowers were just his « hobby ».
He grows them on his windowsill and in his small garden.
He just went out of curiosity deep into it.
And I mean deep!
✓ He founded a (still running) great Facebook Group with over 14.000 members.
✓ He published for several years the beautiful Passiflora Online Journal
✓ He has one of the most informative websites on Passiflora.
✓ He always wears cool shirts!
For me Myles is a great inspiration.
He shows that everyone can be a great plant breeder. You just need enough dedication… and a bit of folly.
P.S: Fun fact:
If you are visiting RHS Wisley you can see some stunning specimens of Passiflora hybrids he created.