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First, a request from commentor Bob H:
This aggressive vine grows all over my NJ property. It reminds me of wisteria in its invasiveness and the way it uses other plants, trees as a platform. Can you identify it from this picture of the flowers? I like this one, but there are other horribly invasive plants that make my life miserable here.
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Below, from commentor Marvel:
It’s finally Real Live Summer here in the Willamette Valley and everything’s reaching for the sky. Here’s a slice from the herb garden. Like the rest of the garden,these plants had a slow start but are catching up nicely.
The potatoes are beginning to flower. Such pretty blooms for such tough cookies (and I love how vigorous potatoes seem, right from the jump).
We harvested about half of our onions today — they’re drying in place (thank you, sunny PNW days!) for a few days while I set up a big curing rack in the garden shed where they’ll rest for a few weeks before they go into storage. Meanwhile, I see a big sloppy cheeseburger in someone’s future.
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Here in New England, my tomatoes have reached the point where I take a bowl out with me every other day to collect the harvest. Yum!What’s it look like in your gardens, right now?
JPL
My gardening knowledge is limited but the first picture looks like a trumpet vine. I never realized how invasive they were. I am having a battle with honeysuckle and I’m determined to win.
Marvel your garden and produce is wonderful. I’m hungry.
gday mate
Yep, that there is a trumpet vine, campsis radicans. They’re native to the southeast, and quite vigorous. Cultivars have been engineered to be very cold-hardy.
If you plant them, you should only do so somewhere you can control the spread. But they do put on a lovely show.
JoyceH
@JPL:
You and me both! I just wish it didn’t smell so lovely, because I can’t just let it go or it overwhelms and destroys my front shrubs.
geg6
Definitely a trumpet vine. My mom had huge ones that she planted along the neighbor’s fence. Lovely if controlled and a magnet for hummingbirds.
Raven
@gday mate: Yep, they are in our Chinese Tallow tree.
JPL
The one thing I would not plant is bamboo. Although it provides quick privacy, it is impossible to maintain. It took me two years to get rid of it.
HeartlandLiberal
Since we are talking gardening, I am sad to report that between the drought and the insects, I am in a losing battle here in South Central Indiana with my vegetable garden. A couple weeks ago, lush squash and pumpkin plants were wiped out in a matter of days. I noted that despite my water scarecrows, the bunnies apparently are fans of Swiss chard, it was nibbled away yesterday. The tomatoes are producing heavily, but starting to turn brown and die. I harvested the last four decent cabbage heads, because the drought and some blight were attacking them, and would have destroyed them if I had not gotten them now.
The local newspaper carried an ‘arbor alert’ news article this week, with advice on how to provide young trees less than four years old with protection, and how important it was to water them deeply so they could establish roots. I have been trying to water my dozen fruit trees, 8 of which are in their third summer, but am beginning to fear I may not have been giving them enough. I let the hose run for 30 minutes two days in a row on a white pine I planed 15 years ago on the ridge at the back of the yard. It was three feet tall when I planted it, and is now as tall as our three story house. I would truly hate to lose it.
I will say that I have been enjoying the over 20 varieties of tomatoes we are harvesting. Of course there are so many we have to cook batches down and freeze them, but that is OK. But last night’s supper was really worth a photo, with chopped pieces of a half dozen different varieties on a plate with tuna fish salad, slaw, and barbeque vegetarian saitan. The tomatoes included samples of an heirloom black (purple, really) cherry tomato, and one cherry varieties that does turn black on its shoulders and top, but orange to red as it ripens. Delicious.
I do plan to till up the garden that is not still producing (most of it at this point), and plant greens and other crops that will grow into late November. I did that in late August last year, and we ate turnips and greens up till Thanksgiving, some of the best ever. The problem is getting them started in the vicious heat and drought of what our late summers have become.
p.a.
the woodlot behind my property is a constant danger- oriental bittersweet in the trees overhangs my yard and drops its seed. I’ve done some chopping, and the grapes seem to be gaining ground. At least they’re natives. But I’ve noted that the bittersweet grows so densly it’s fantastic to attract nesting birds. Can’t complain to the owner about the problem; he’ll just bring in a ‘dozer and create a desert.
WereBear
We had honeysuckle on Long Island, and I finally had to get rid of it with a systemic poison they use for poison ivy; it was the only thing that worked.
But it had torn down a fence and killed a young maple tree; it was goin’ rogue.
JPL
@WereBear: Yup. I have a chain link fence and it’s sagging. Since the honeysuckle is on the other side, I just keep clipping it although I might try some full strength spray.
Terry
@HeartlandLiberal: I’m losing tons of trees on my 8-acre frisbee golf course/yard. Heartbreaking. A 15-foot, 7-year-old Dawn Redwood turned brown overnight last week. We are pumping water into the roots of its twin. :(
bob h
Thanks for the info on the trumpet vine. I also have a problem with honeysuckle, something called vineweed, and a small, yellow bamboo that is the most ruthless invader I have ever owned. There is also a vine that has thorns on it like barbed wire.
jeffreyw
Call me anything but late for breakfast!
Auntie Beak
We got 3-inches of rain in 45 minutes yesterday, according to the dh. I am in New York City right now to watch the Yankees humiliate my Red Sox. But we’ve been picking tomatoes for a week now. And I picked my first eggplant Friday.
Skepticat
@p.a.: Oriental bittersweet is an absolute nightmare here on this little island in Maine. It had choked to death a number of large trees and is very like southern kudzu. There is one part of the cliff it’s keeping from falling into the water, so I let that patch go, but I spend a lot of time picking off and destroying the fruits before they go to seed. So far I’ve filled three big trash bags with fruits alone, and they’re small. The birds love them and spread them far and wide. It’s an onerous job but does help with control if you can’t remove the vines. I spend days at a time chopping out the roots and pulling up every spout I find. I also made the mistake of planting perennial sweet peas in my garden, where little thrives in the rocky, thin, salty soil, and they’re taking lessons from the bittersweet and taking over the world.
chrome agnomen
@Auntie Beak:
how’d that humiliatin’ go yesterday?
Palli
@bob h:
It takes work but you can control trumpet vines a bit by regular pruning and, most importantly, harvesting the seed pods through out the blooming season. Seed pods grow off the pollinated flowers and can be broken off when green and still short. I ask a friend’s children who climb like monkeys to do it several times a month here in Ohio.
Are you talking about what we call “bindweed”, an entwining with morning glory-like flowers and a pointy heart shape leaf? We fill a baby jar with Roundup and securely poke the vine end into the jar leaving it for a few days to drain into the wide spreading roots. We’ve had some success. (I’m told if you have to use a poison this Roundup is better than others and Extended Roundup is essential here for poison ivy. Thank you Inhoffe for loving Global Warming.)
the Conster
@chrome agnomen:
There’s always next time, and with this year’s version of the .500 Red Sox, probably today.
Any suggestions about getting rid of a quince bush? I love it in the spring, but it’s growing so out of control and its runners are starting to come up everywhere.
Soonergrunt
I’m not even trying to garden anymore this summer. Most of my garden has died in the heat here in Oklahoma. A couple of trees in our back yard are in rough shape. We water them every evening for about 30 minutes each. They’re hanging on. The young Oak tree in our front yard is still hanging on. Right after we bought the house, I deployed to Afghanistan, and Soonerwife hired a lawn guy. Well, the tree was young, and he lashed at the bark near the base with his trimmer because he was lazy and incompetent, and damn near killed the tree. It’s hung on too, but it hasn’t grown right since. We water it every night, too but I think this drought may finally do it in.
Tokyokie
When the next-door neighbor built a privacy fence alongside my wire fence, leaving about an 8-inch strip that’s technically in his yard but that he can’t see, I planted several vines in hopes they would block the sun from the strip and nothing would be able to grow there. The vines basically killed each other, with only the honeysuckle and trumpet creeper (which is native to around here) surviving. But the trumpet creeper is lovely when it blooms in the spring.
dricey
It’s a trumpet vine. I had several of them in my backyard in Iowa. To eliminate them, I had to be persistent, and ruthless.
First, cut them back to the ground. Dose the stump with stump remover. The roots will survive and continue to send up shoots throughout your yard for several years. Hit each of the shoots with poison ivy/brush killer. To protect surrounding plants and grass, use cardboard or plastic sheets. If you keep at this, you’ll finally exorcise the trumpet vine demon from your property.
JPL
@bob h: The best way to get rid of bamboo is a back hoe but that was not going to happen in my backyard. After a lot of research, I bought the most expensive round-up and used that. You cut the bamboo and within seconds you have to pour a capful of roundup. If you do not pour the roundup (full strength) instantly the bamboo plant heals. I cut the bamboo ten inches above ground so I could cut again and repeat the application. It’s nice to have two people so one can cut and one can pour. It cost me over 200 dollars just for the poison. I waited a year before planting other shrubs. When you dig up the roots, you will understand why it’s so invasive. I had well over a hundred plants though.
grandpa john
here in SC trumpet vine is found growing wild, usually in pastures especially along fence lines that have been allowed to grow other bushes and weeds along them,. I have always wanted to try to grow them, but here when found growing wild they are usually among other stuff such as blackberry vines growing wild and are hard to get to.
Geoduck
In the Pacific NW, I’ve got morning glory, ivy and blackberry vines all fighting for dominance.
Tho we appear to be just about the only part of the country which has so far escaped the drought..
RILnyc
That is a trumpet vine and it is a pretty, but horribly invasive, little fucker. It is seriously hardy: sometimes you drive down a divided highway and the local highway department will put it on the divider. It does double-duty: improves aesthetics and calms traffic.
I cut mine back every single fall. And I mean back to the bone. Heads up: it’s very late to put out leaves in the spring (this past spring I worried I’d killed it with my mega-pruning last fall), but do not fear. Once it comes back, it comes back with a vengeance.
Above advice is spot-on, i.e., put it in a spot where you can control the spread.
brendan sexton
@RILnyc:
Trumpet Vine (like honeysuckle) should only be planted where you are sure you want nothing else for generations . like a distant stone wall that will be there forever. but it’s wonderful to have it in sight of your breakfast table, since it is as noted above a magnet for hummingbirds. and of course, it’s quite pretty.
many vines have kudzu potential–beautiful wisteria is famous for ruining houses. i once had a house that had been let go for many years and a grape vine had turned the backyard into a scene from a bad tarzan movie ! took years and years of hard work to eliminate it (i won’t use poisons, though–little kids and pets).
it is just plain fact that many gardens are not a good place for vigorous vines. even morning glories can become a problem. stick to bedding plants, shrubs, flowering trees, and like that for anywhere near a house or building!
Linda Featheringill
@bob h: #12
Such a vine popped up close to my back door. I grasped it to pull it up and the main stem did a number on my hand. Geez! I finally chopped it off but would like to pull it up by the roots the next time it rains. I haven’t seen one like that before.
gvg
I grow trumpet vine as an ornamental. You have to plan to grow it safely and the prior owners of this house actually did. first, it blooms up top of the vine and drooping down which means if you let it grow up a tree, the blooms are way up high and you can’t pick the seed pods off as they from which if you want to keep control you need. It’s a humming bird attractor so its worth keeping the blooms down where you can see them anyway. it sends up suckers so you need to plant it in the middle of a yard that you can mow all the way around it for say 6 to 10 feet. Its very strong when it gets going and a little normal trellis won’t cut it. the prior owners had had an iron sort of umbrella made for it about 7 feet tall. the vine grows up that spreads out and down and blooms most of the summer. I pick the seed pods off it as they form, mow around it, hit the extra runners with roundup and it’s fine. lots of bloom, pretty hummers. I grew it elsewhere among other things and that was a mistake so that I didn’t plan to ever grow it again, but realized this set up might be safe so I waited to see. I think the iron trellis thing was probably pretty expensive though. I usually get a birds nest in it each year too.
I think you can also grow wisteria this way.
beergoggles
It is trumpet vine but it’s easily destroyed. When you cut it down to the roots, spread Casoron on the ground. It will kill any shoots that try to come up in the area you spread it in. Voila, instant control. It’s an amazing herbicide that can also be used to kill invasives such as bishops weed because it forms a layer in the soil and kills any shoots that grow through that layer. Plants that have already grown out of the soil and so do not have new growth passing through that layer are unaffected by the Casoron.
Depending on what zone you are in, there are several vines you can replace it with that are much easier to control. Pseudo hydrangea vines, some cultivars of Clematis, and even Jasmine officianale which I’ve managed to grow here in Massachusetts. One of my favorites though has to be kiwi vines with their variegated green, pink and white leaves – due to the extremely mild winter we just had I actually got a yield of grape sized edible fruit from it.
Elizabelle
For fellow eggplant lovers:
Mark Bittman has 12 wonderful ways to use grilled eggplant.
Cool graphic by the NYTimes.
John Weiss
@Soonergrunt: Sooner! 30 minutes is not enough water for the trees. Use a sprinkler and water ’em all night. You must wet the soil farther down than a light watering will.
Good luck.
AHH onna Droid
@Soonergrunt: well more power to you even trying for a tree in OK. My grandma before she passed just had to try a Norway Maple and the darn thing was so runty even after several years and careful husbandry ( she kept rose bushes, no slacker, she). It really awed me as a child. In Eastern Mass. Same plant is a pernicious weed, can’t kill the damn shoots as the roots dig in incredibly fast, and they are big by Ne standards.
AHH onna Droid
@Linda Featheringill: Smilax? Because that shit is pernicious. Trying to fight it bc it seems to be creating chigger habitat and because it’s blocking light to my hapless peaches. Wearing bandage today, grace a smilax.
russell
that invasive guy is trumpet vine.
how tough is trumpet vine?
we had one out back and wanted to get rid of it. i cut it down to the stump, then drilled a well in the stump and poured herbicide in it. i refreshed the herbicide periodically over the summer.
the vine continued to send up new shoots, as far as 25 or 30 feet from the original stump. as each one popped up, i treated it with round up.
it’s been about 8 years and new shoots still continue to pop up. at this point, i just think of it as something we’re gonna live with forever, and i pull the new shoots as they come up as if they were any other weed.
trumpet vine is a tough SOB.
keestadoll
WOW! Glad I read the posts on this topic today. The trumpet was up high on my list of choices to cover this chain link we have around the perimeter of our property, but WHAT A NIGHTMARE! Anyone in here a Pac-Northwester that has experience with either Mandevilla or another flowering vine? Thoughts and suggestions definitely welcome!
Mary Brown
I just harvested about 25 cucumbers. Got plenty of pickles. Would give them to the foodbank but they’re not open today or before I go to work tomorrow. What else can I do with them?
rikyrah
your pics are so beautiful.
p.a.
@Skepticat: depending on the size of your yard, using a wetvac to vacuum up the seeds is a possibility. Just explain to the neighbors, so when they see you vacuuming your lawn they don’t call the nearest mental health clinic.
delosgatos
I decided to try a couple of heirloom tomato plants in our small Los Gatos backyard. I have them in large planters with lines from the irrigation, so they’re getting plenty of water, and the drainage is good. I added some commercial tomato fertilizer to the soil when I put them in. The foliage is thriving, and they’re flowering regularly, but they’re not pollinating. I haven’t seen many bees in the yard (hmm, perhaps taking out the gnarly lavender was a mistake). Anyone have any tips on manually pollinating? I know different varieties vary in self-pollination, not sure what I have.
We did get one tomato off one of the plants – it was already growing when I bought it. My wife had never had a properly ripened tomato 15 minutes off the vine, and I probably haven’t had one for two decades. It really makes it clear that they’re a fruit. :)
Julie
@delosgatos: What are the temps like where you are? That seems to be the most important factor as to whether they start fruiting. The ideal temps are 80s days/60s nights. If it’s too hot they won’t do much, but if you can keep them going until it cools off you can get fruits in the autumn.
My tomatoes are drying up and being eaten by spider mites, I will probably pull them soon. We’ve had about a month of 100+ temps here in OK. I picked about five tomatoes today but I don’t think they can survive the heat to produce again this fall. I got a lot out of them earlier this summer, though.
Julie
Hmm–looking at the weather channel for Los Gatos, it might actually be the cool nights that are your problem. Can you do anything to warm them at night? I’ve never really had that problem so I’m not much of an expert on it.
Joel
Like everyone else confirmed, trumpet vine. Great for humming birds, bad for competing foliage. Here’s a good link: http://landscaping.about.com/od/vineplants1/p/trumpet-vines.htm
Skepticat
@p.a.: That’s a good idea, thanks; I’ll try it once it stops raining. I have a lot of ground cover and may need the largest shop vac, as rather than a yard it’s really a lot of seaside cliff, field, and woods. I live on a secluded point visible only to boats, but I think the ferry boat captains probably already have the mental health authorities on speed dial for my antics.
geg6
@gvg:
That is exactly what my mom did with hers. Both of us loooooved the trumpets she had, for the hummingbirds they attracted and for blocking out the hideous wire fence the neighbors put up. And when she finally decided to get rid of them when my parents put in a new driveway and they were in the way, she had no trouble getting rid of them. In fact, I’m quite taken aback by all the negative comments about them on this thread. Really, they were easily controlled and easily destroyed.
delosgatos
@Julie:
Thanks Julie. We get some microclimate heat during the days, in front of the house it gets into the 90s, but I think the backyard stays 5-10 degrees cooler. (Not kidding, the microclimate is that micro.) Overnight I think it’s typically dropping into the 50s. If that’s the issue covering them might help, but I’m not sure I’d remember to uncover them in the morning. :)