Last year there was nary a blossom on our morning glory plant, even though the vines were quite prolific. This year’s planting – in the same spot – was headed in the same direction until a few weeks ago, when the place started rocking morning glory flowers, as well as moon flowers, which I had added as a companion plant. I never noticed the “rays of sun” emanating from the flower’s center – a veritable sunrise – and wonder if that’s how the plant got its name.
They’ll probably be around until the first frost, which seems nowhere in sight, for the time being anyway.
There’s some beautiful columbine that just showed up in our back yard this year, “volunteers” in gardening world parlance. Here’s the darkest one, with mostly a deep purple coloration, but there’s also a lavender one, and a cream one.
They’ve been part of a second wave of blossoms this spring, arriving along with the rhododendrons and Virginia spiderwort; after the apple tree, lilacs, bleeding heart and bridal wreath spirea, and just before the cascading weigela at the edge of the woodpile.
Though their fruit is incredibly colorful in an otherwise drab November landscape, these plants are woody vines that are terribly invasive and don’t play well with native species. It’s recommended that they be eradicated while still in small patches, something that can be done manually.
We moved to our home here in Ivoryton when it was 5 years old, in 1992. The landscaping on the property was minimal – some lawn and shrubs that barely made a dent in the forest around us. That changed over the years, and it was especially rewarding to bring in scented shrubs: honeysuckle, mock orange, roses, and a few viburnum. Spring is truly here when those viburnums blossom, and it’s always worth a trip to the “back forty” for the wonderful vanilla fragrance, and the way it shifts, ever so slightly, with the weather and time of day.
