August | 2013 | CatNISS

…To Not Bloody Well Vine at All

For some reason, I have a helluva hard time growing vining plants. They don’t like me or the mini ecosystems I place them. They come in either extremely late in the season (Sunset Black-eyed Susan) or sparsely (pink jasmine) or get burnt (akebia) or nothing effin happens at all (that thing I bought from 13th Street Nursery).

The akebia was promising to behave, growing early and strong this past spring. Yet it has failed to produce the bizarre flower or fruit I had hoped to see by now.

The akebia was preceded by purple thumbergia, red mandevilla, blue-violet clematis, trailing nasturtium, and the hardy Willamette Hops that is grown locally. None of those did well either. That spot or I am cursed.

Interestingly (to me), in a place where a few lupine and delphinium have met their uneventful end, a purple morning glory is thriving, just starting this year. Eh? (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (If you don’t get this joke, consider yourself lucky.)

Below, in the order listed above, are the vining plants, one strange flower I think my sis Chanda would love, and a Buddha correctly contemplating the ephemeral nature of my garden.

…and the thing that is dying.

Each thing is a plant. The blooms of the immortal plant, a Four O’Clock, opens at certain times each day, not necessarily at 4 am or 4 pm. It was planted by my predecessor, right next to the driveway, impeding driver and passenger exit of the left side of my vehicle. Despite my efforts to get rid of it, it comes back, just like in the song, “The Cat Came Back.”

The “I lost my will to live” plant is a Spring Torch heather. It definitely has lost its spring. I’ve abused it by moving it a time or two, but it has been in the same place for more than three years. Catniss strikes again. No plant is safe. On the bright side, I get to buy a new plant!

Below are pictures of the Immortal One, Mortality in Progress to Certain Doom, and other front yard blooms.