Saturday, July 30, 2011

Agressive Plants

I don't know the name of this vine but it has certainly been a "bright spot" in our back yard this summer. Carolyn gave it to Elaine for Mother's Day. I built a trellis attached to the clothesline post next to the deck. It was slow in "taking off" but during the past couple weeks, it has grown rapidly. Whether it's tentacles can reach out to the Finch feeder is still in question. Unseen on the picture are tentacles on their way down two of the four clothes line wires. Today it has many more flowers than show on the picture. I don't believe there has been a day when it hasn't had blooms. As desirable as it is, I can't help but wonder what it might  metamorphose into. Kudzu being a prime example but there are many others. Multiflora rose and Kudzu both were highly recommended by SCS as a way of controlling erosion and providing wildlife habitat. When I was a youngster, we ordered "Burning bush" from the Gurney Nursery in South Dakota. It is now well know as "tumble weed" though it is Kochia of the Goosefoot Family. Our "Nebraska Weeds" book refers to it as "... an escaped ornamental which has become a troublesome weed." After all we have domesticated many weeds into important plants so it's only appropriate that some of our plants become weeds. And, it has been said that a weed is just a plant growing out of place. 

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