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Garden journal entry

 

Victoria smothering Duranta in a loving embrace
April 09, 2020. It's the season of vines. Ever since starting our backyard garden a few years ago, my goal has been to hide as much of the back fence as possible, and I'm starting to succeed quite nicely. Some of the hiding is done by trees and large shrubs, but vigorous vines do an important part of the work – including a massive climbing aster, early-flowering Virginia jasmine, big-flowered butterfly vine, towering cape honeysuckle, vigorous Mexican flame vine, and even a grape. Many of those are blooming right now. I'll dedicate a separate page to the fence-hiding project some day. Among all those vines, the longest-flowering by far is our 'Victoria' passionflower. While it's supposed to produce edible fruits, it has failed to do so in our garden. But that's not for lack of trying – it is constantly covered in interesting dusky-purple buds, with always a few splashy flowers open. It sends its vines everywhere, covering its neighbors with its big three-fingered leaves, and eventually not only shading them out but also weighing them down. So I remove large parts of it routinely, which doesn't phase Victoria at all. Among the neighbors smothered by her love, our lovely Duranta erecta bears the biggest brunt, since Ms. Passionflower grows right at her base. But doesn't it make for a lovely combination? I'll rescue the duranta soon – since I need her too: she's yet another part of the fence-hiding squad!


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Last modified: September 09, 2009
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