Large Leaves, Small Flowers (Not Good According to Me)
No, the problem is all that tying, and the fact that large leaves and tiny flowers are not very showy. So I've come up with a plan. I'm going to replace it with another campsis radicans (trumpet vine) like the one on the west side (Indian Summer) only a different colour, either red (Flamenco) or yellow (Flava).
It is Very Floppy and Must be Tied to the Arbour
(Also Not Good According to Me)
I know, I know. Trumpet Vine is described as "vigorous" -- which is a gardening codeword meaning "Hahaha, you thought only sentient lifeforms were capable of taking over the earth, didn't you?"
I Prefer the Trumpet Vine (But in a Different Colour)
But at least it stays in one place, unlike sumac, which is the biggest planting mistake made to date in this yard. I have lifted sumac shoots as much as 40 feet (12 metres) from the stump where the original tree grew. Sometimes I overhear amazed comments from my backyard neighbours, along the lines of, "Look at this miniature tree growing here in our yard, hon. Where did that come from, I wonder?"
The Sumac Shoots Grow Anywhere and Everywhere
I mentally apologize as I realize that my husband drilling holes in the stump and pouring strong poison in has done nothing to kill the root system that thrives under the soil and sends up sumac shoots everywhere.
Even This Does Not Fix the Problem
Some Blooms to Enjoy
But because I don't want to end on a completely bad note, here are some photos from the archives.
Fragrant Hosta Flowers
Sunflower Volunteers
Rozanne Hardy Geranium and Holger Juniper
All photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.
6 comments:
Hi Karen, today you have very spezial pics at your blog.
The weather is chancing in the moment, it is cold and we have rain.
Sigrun
Finally it rains here. This summer has been the driest in this century!!! so you can imagine how we are happy to get rain.
Okay, back to your post Karen. A agree with this unnamed flower...its not so interesting but instead I've admired your trumpetwine earlier and those "flava" and "flamenco" are both a good choice. I found out that it COULD have a chance to live here too and also noticed that one company sells the seeds...have to add it to my list. Oh your sumac is very aggressive, hope you manage to destroy it. Here its very rare but according to you it seems not a bad loss.
I agree, too. You can do better than the mystery flower. I think the trumpet vine is lovely, but I have never grown it. Maybe it's one of those plants that's very nice as long as it's not in my yard??? Sort of like my wild mulva.
Replacing and replanting is what makes gardening interesting. It would be very dull and boring if everything we did the first time turned out to be correct!
I like to read about mistakes and successes. Great way to learn! I love your trumpet vine and what a wonderful picture! Also love the coreopsis in the previous post....lovely light. Your pics are a real treat, always!
My trumpet vine does not stay contained and comes up everywhere! I have tried to kill it for 2 years now without success, dousing it with Round-up thoroughly going on at least 4 times now. Ugh!
Just thought I'd offer you a suggestion on killing trumpet vine. I actually found a product called Vine-X that will kill trumpet vine. I was skeptical but desparate since I HATED the suckers sent up throughout my yard and bedding. I tried other web suggestions (including soaking suckers in pure RoundUp with no success - I actually believe it LIKES RoundUp). Figured I had nothing to lose by ordering this and trying it. I had a large stem (about 2 inches in diameter) so I ordered the large stem version. None of my local garden stores carried it so I ordered it via the net (www.vine-x.com). I applied it twice, about 10 days apart. I expected to have to apply again in spring (since I previously applied it during a dormant season)but so far, so good. No growth and no suckers.
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