...and Vines

OMG.

Why is anyone online, when they could be watching what is likely the only documentary about Pueraria lobata (apparently now Pueraria montana var. lobata) on television: Kudzu Vine, on the Documentary Channel (DOC) right now.

Signing off, to go back watching it.

Edited to remove excessive underlining embellishments...

This message was edited Jul 20, 2012 9:40 PM

I don't even want to watch it! I hear it's heading NORTH! Arrggghh! Stay away, evil plant! : )

It already resides in Chicago - along the L.

OK, it's late and I'm just dreaming what VV just wrote. It's not in Chicago. Not, not, NOT!

It makes sense. I have a bunch of plants that should have died last winter. My salvia farinacea usually comes back from seed, because the plants are killed. Instead, the plants themselves lived through the winter, which has never happened in the ten years I've grown it. A hydrangea in a friend's yard that had never bloomed on old wood did so.

The bad thing about this area is that it is so cold in the winter. The good thing about the cold, though, is that many problematical insects are killed and that southern invasive plants (usually) don't survive.

uh, Kudzu came from an area of the world that gets below 0°F every winter... It really is a plant that can take over the world...

We've had -20 F in the past. We'll see.

Next, it'll be the silly string plant.

Between the heat, humidity, and monstrous plants, I'm ready to throw in the shovel and watch I Love Lucy reruns.

LOL! There is a double hibiscus blooming in my yard. It must be ten feet tall. With double flowers. I wanted one years ago. It's supposed to be zone 7.

Odd thing, though. We have barely any mosquitos. I used to come back from running in the morning (breathing out all that co2), and get munched as I turned my key. There are hardly any. And either my milky spore is REALLY working or something has happened to the japanese beetles. I have a bunch of beetle magnet plants in my yard, but I see perhaps 5 a day, as opposed to 50! Some roses are untouched.

The el in Chicago is a really weird microclimate. First you get the lake effect, and then the heat from the tracks. They often have to flush out birds this time year because they love to nest there. The effect lifts the zone from 5b or 6 to 6b or 7.

Wow, Donna - I grew up taking the el because we did not have a car and I swear I never knew that about it. Of course, back when I was a kid, the zone thing would have made my eyes glaze over, but now it's interesting! I wonder if the warmer zone plants self seed there, too? How cool! Thanks for sharing!