Welcome and Welcome Back

In a largish flower pot by our mailbox I have been trying out, over the last few years, several annual vines. I could procure a more predictable Mandevilla or a more reliable Clematis. But experimentation can be fun.

Last years selection was "Cypress Vine" (Ipomoea quamoclit). Agonizing a bit about the wisdom of starting what many consider an invasive thug, I concluded that the majority of complaints along those lines came from warmer climes and I would give it a try. As pictured above I ordered a mixture of colors white, pink and red in seed form, and nursed them along through early spring. They did not disappoint! Their cheery star shaped trumpets greeted us all through the summer and into the fall. 

This year I successfully grew from seed "fragrant corkscrew vine" (Vigna caracalla) not only by soaking them overnight but by starting the process with boiling water. As I recall 8 of the 10 germinated. Starting them out in the green cardboard boxes that strawberries come in allowed me to disturb the roots as little as possible when the time came to put them outside. I shared most of them.


The one I put in the vegetable garden succumbed to chipmunks or voles or something...one day it was there the next it was not. But the one in the pot by the mailbox flourished!

Its 'leaves of three' may have caused the neighbors to scratch their heads about my growing poison ivy, I have to admit I wondered myself about this experiment. But here in late summer it is becoming apparent that this is something different and fragrant and lovely.

And guess who came back! The Cypress Vine! With her ferny leaves and little red trumpet stars.