Vines

Two Twining Together

| Flower Roberts

I love vines and I love purple. I did not plan this combination. Nature planted the morning glories. The Passion Vine is a hybrid called ‘Blue Crown.’ A hybrid is a mix of two different strains.

Passion Vine and purple morning glory.

If you are a follower, you know how I feel about vines. I have learned life lessons from them due to their faith in reaching up and out and their grabbing hold for support when needed. They always strive to go higher. They inspire me.

I had wanted to live my life like a strong and magestic tree, but my fate was to live like a vine. I have struggled to accept my interdependence. Thankfully the vines keep modeling a different path in ascent.

Two ‘Blue Crown’ Passion blooms

I have watched vines grow amazingly high and strong when in the right location.  I have also watched them crawling across the ground searching for support. Like the tomato vine that I had to step over to take these photos.

Wandering tomato vine.

I have had to guide some climbers that lost their way and grew up under structures to be trapped in darkness. Some even ended up enclosed in pots and under stoneshrooms and had to be rescued and rerouted.

Wrong Turns

Sound familiar?

Maybe you are a vine, too. I have some vine friends that I am entwined with. We support each other and end up the better for both of us. Win:win as twins!

Passion on the treehouse.

And about that purple? That color is regal. It does not have the boldness of red nor the dark hue of blue. It is a tween color. The red and blue join to make something beautiful together. 

Wild purple morning glory

Sometimes it takes two different lives to achieve perfection in combination. Do not try to be everything all by yourself.

Great combo!

I no longer wish to be a tall and sturdy tree. I do admire their strength and grandeur. I have accepted my vineness and my purpleness. Others have different fates, but mine is as a vine.

I would be remiss if I left out the down side of entwined vines. Sometimes they reach for the sky and there is no support.

Reaching for the sky.

Then they bend back on themselves or twine so tightly together that they both droop and die.

Dead end, turn back

Sometimes interdependent becomes co- dependent. If you are a vine, you must be selective about what you connect with. Not all partnerships are beneficial for both.

Choking: co-dependence

FLOWER

The Faith of the Vine

| Flower Roberts

I will admit that the blooms of Passion vines are outstanding. The complex details make the flower a favorite of photographers.

Passion vine bloom

The leaves are uninteresting, though also complex. But there is one, cute, little feature that gets ignored. The tendrils. I must admit to a tendril fetish.

Tendril

These little curls reaching out to grab anything for support have my heart. What faith these curls have in growing away from the stem and twirling around in thin air hoping to make contact with anything that will help them fight gravity and climb higher.

Hang on!

Wouldn’t it be nice if we had tendrils waving around finding close-by support. It’s one of the reasons I love vines.

Reaching

That faith in reaching out.

FLOW

Overgrown Means Nobody’s Home

| Flower Roberts

An abandoned garden has certain signs that the gardener is absent. There is an unkempt wildness that is noticable to those of us who notice such details.

Most folks glance over blindly and barely acknowledge the weeds and flowers that need dead-heading. But certain signs leave no doubt that the gardener in out.

I have repeatedly scolded MR. FLOWER for acting as if he can replace my full-time expert care. He does not even know the names of my treasures, much less proper preening techniques.

Overgrown Creeping Fig

There is one sign that above all else shows an absence in proper maintanence. It does involve out-of-control growth. But even some of that could be the chosen look of a bohemian botanist.

When I see this anywhere, I know that nobody who really loves the garden is home.

Moss is under there somewhere.

When the face of a statue is cloaked in greenery, you can bet no botanist nor artist is making regular rounds.

I do hope I remember to atleast uncover poor Moss’s face before I leave town. Lily needs a bit of attention, also. The wall can be totally covered in greenery, but my cute, little, sentinel statuary should be visible.

It is just rude to let some things go.

FLOW

Taking a Walker to Visit my Passion Vine

| Flower Roberts

This plant is a combination of everything I love.

Blue Crown Passion Vine


Twining vine, purple, complex flowers and lovely memories of Italy.


Vines fascinate me in how they find ways to use other structures for support.
Purple is the ultimate regal color.
This flower is more than just a pretty face with stamen that move according to the weather.


This flower brings back memories of a small, walled-town in Tuscany, Volterra.

I hobbled to the end of the deck just to see these magnificent blooms. Neither leg is functional now. I must use this walker for support.

Extra legs


Hopefully the surgery will get me moving again.

FLOWER

One Little Firecracker

| Flower Roberts

This sweet baby came up in the gravel near where I had a pot full of Ipomoea lobata last year.

I couldn’t just leave it there struggling to survive, so I carefully put it in a small pot with a stick.

In no time at all its little top was waving in the breeze looking for some support.

I planted it in the big pot where its mama plant was last year.

I love how the tiny blooms emerge red.

As the raceme of blooms elongate the older flowers fade to yellow.

That is why it has another name, Spanish Flag vine.

I consider this vine a gift. I did not have time to buy seeds for my trellises this year.

I am grateful one little seed showed up to fill the void.

My garden is a blessing.

FLOW

Training a Vine

| Flower Roberts

It takes lots of time to train a good vine.

It grabs what it touches and begins to climb and twine.

It must to be untangled when it grows in a knot.

A vine must be tended carefully and constantly as it grows.

This is this years’ new vine, Exotic Love Vine/ Ipomoea lobata.

Exotic Love Vine/ Ipomoea lobata

Its blooms are of lovely form and multiple colors.

The leaves have a fleur-de-lis shape.

I am pleased with this unusual annual.

FLOW

My Crazy Clematis

| Flower Roberts

I always wanted a purple clematis because my Gran had one growing up the side of her porch. I loved how it highlighted the side entrance and provided some shade. She had superb taste in everything… furniture, food or flowers.

I purchased a bare-root Jackman Clematis decades ago. I still have its package. That’s how I remember what I have and when I got it. It is also why my office is messy.

The Jackman clematis is supposed to bloom in summer, mine is covered with blooms now.

Jackman clematis

Another anomaly is that its blooms have differing numbers of petals. There are many five-petal blooms, but about as many four-petal and six-petal flowers. This breaks some botany rules.

I have looked at many photos of Jackman clematis on the internet. The variation shows up in some photos. I do not know why this plant is a shape-shifter.

All I know is that it is lovely and reminds me of my Gran and her beautiful home.

FLOW

Flow Grows Kudzu’s Cousin

| Flower Roberts

I have learned my lesson. I will never order seeds off of the internet that are not from a known company.

Remember that my first set of seeds was supposed to be Flying Saucer Morning Glories.

Those bloomed weedy purple instead of blue and white. I had to do my first killing of the season.

Now my Lablab purpureus has formed seed pods that are NOT purple.

My neighbor accused me of growing Kudzu. https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/science/five-facts-kudzu-in-florida/

Anything that looks like Kudzu and grows like Kudzu does not belong in my garden.

It is not really Kudzu, but it is misbehaving by grabbing everything around it.

I have been removing the seed pods so it will not self-sow, but I have gotten behind.

It may be time for my second murder of the season.

POOR FLOW

Two Tiny Vines

| Flower Roberts

I love my vines. I have tried many types. These two are keepers.

Red Cypress Vine/Ipomoea pennata stays small and is easy to train to any trellis.

It resows itself. Its feathery leaves are lovely.

The red blooms are gorgeous in any light.

Red Cypress Vine/ Ipomoea pennata

My other favorite is Love in a Puff/ Cardiospermum halicacabum.

Love in a Puff/ Cardiospermum halicacabum

Its flowers are tiny white with yellow centers.

I love the puffy seed pods which contain three seeds.

Each black seed has a white heart on it.

I have heard this vine can be a pest below Zone 6, but it behaves itself here in North Carolina.

These two get along well together on our lamp post.

Flow