An early end to most of my passion vine

This is a little off-topic but I had to cry to people who would understand. We had some really strong wind here today and as usual I looked out to make sure my lattice, and passionvine, on top of my fence was still there. No problem this morning, but when I looked again at 4pm the fence was about to fall down!

It wasn't because of the lattice tho because if the wind comes from that direction it will just either bend it forward or it will start coming off. This was in a section where there was no lattice and every time the wind blew it caved in like a big V, towards me! I'm not big and don't weigh much and when a gust came it took all my strength to hold the pole and keep it from blowing over.

The post had come out of the ground and the fence had started moving in towards my yard! My first thought was it was going to fall on my plants! But then I realized that wasn't the big problem. If that one panel fell it would pull down several others and I started seeing $$ instead. It also might have landed on my tree.

This is a view of how the fence moved from the neighbor's yard.

The first thing I did was run to the garage and get boards to prop up against it on my side. The gusts were still blowing it in and that wasn't going to work long.

No one was home, not my husband or either of the neighbor's so all was left up to ME!

I got a long extension cord next and ran it thru the fence (where there is now a gap) and tied it onto the post then ran it back into the neighbors yard and wrapped it around their huge willow tree. I did this twice then ran the cord to another post and back. I sure hope it's still there now.

Oh my KKB, glad you weren't hurt!

So, after running back and forth to each yard I finally got the fence to stop moving and needed to get the lattice and vine off the fence so it wouldn't weight that end down.

I then got the ladder and tried to hang on while standing on the very top and trying to unscrew the lattice from the fence. I was hoping, of course, to try and not have to cut the vine. I thought maybe if I could get the lattice down and just let the vine hang I could save it.

So I dug thru the vine and held the lattice up with one hand and unscrewed about 7 screws hoping that no spiders would attack me!! I couldn't get the lattice down tho because something was caught so I had no choice but to cut the vine. I just cut it across the top of the lattice tho in hopes that a big portion of it could survive. I know it's late in the season and it will die soon anyways, but I have cats inside now and was afraid there were more on the vine. (and I want more Variegated Frits!)

oh Paige. Glad you were able to save at least part of it

Ok, so did I mention that as I was on top of the ladder in the wind (with a horrible headache) that I had to refrain from busting out crying?! lol I don't know if it was from the fact that I was having to cut my vine, that I had stomped on several plants with feet and the ladder, or if it was just the intense stress.

I managed to get it all down and hopefully it's secure enough to hold it up thru the night. I think the winds have let up, or will, so tomorrow I'll go out and mourn the loss of several plants. :(

Oh well, at least it didn't pull my fence down, or several others! The house next door is vacant now and they have stopped the sprinkler head on that side of the fence so I think it got too dry and the cement just cracked. My husband has plans this weekend. lol

Yes! Luckily this post is where the original plant was but this year it moved to the left and to the right! You can see where I had to cut the vine the first time. There is a big piece of it there on the fence and further to the left is the main part of that side. The base of the other part (I had trained them to meet there in the middle) is to the right of the break. So yes, I still do have a good portion left.

Oh, wow, that's awful, I would have been panicking too! At least some of the vine is saved and you didn't get hurt. Good job!

The winds were amazing here too.

Oh Paige! I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that. And with a headache to boot! You were wise to do what you did. I don't know that I would have had the foresight to handle the situation as well as you did. Thank heavens you didn't get hurt with all of that wind whipping every which a way.

We had some horrendous winds here as well today. Nothing hurricane force, but I watched my trees whipping around in the back yard. I went out several times to pick up those little fallen twigs. I hate stepping on them in my barefeet... especially after hubby has mowed because he doesn't take the time to remove them before he mows, like I do. I watch my banana tree leaves turn to shredded leaves.

Connie was up in Silsbee and Sour Lake both today and she said the winds there were pretty ferocious also. She had to finally stop tinting because every time she'd get the windows cleaned and ready for the film, by the time the tint was peeled and ready to go on the window, there was a layer of dirt on the cleaned windows.

While I appreciate that the weather is cooling down, I'd rather it do it at a much slower pace. Considering the weather in other parts of the world today (mainly I'm thinking of Japan and the earthquake and tsunami warnings I heard about this morning) we all need to count our blessings. They ARE there. Surely God will watch over any remaining cats in those vines.

Janet

So true! I'm very thankful that I saw it before the entire thing came down. I have to say tho that I'm handling it much better now that it's the end of the season. If it were spring and this happened I'd be in tears! No laughing, I know some of you do it! lol When spring storms come I stand at the windows and watch my plants and get teary eyed.

Janet, you can walk in your yard with no shoes! It's a shame but I'm afraid to do it because of the fire ants. We've been very lucky to not have too many, which I credit to organic products like dried molasses, but every once in a while they pop up and you don't want to be caught with no shoes!

Dear Kronketeblond,

Good for you that you knew what to do to avoid losing all your passionvine!!!! I hope it comes right back. Is passionvine an all year round grower in your climate? Luckily it is here.

Congrats for saving the plant,

Chuck

Paige, that was quite an ordeal!!! I am glad you didn't get hurt and managed to save the vine!!!Bravo!!!
Josephine.

I don't have to worry too much about the fire ants. Most of the time, they will "park themselves" on the edges of an island. There are a few (read only 2-3,000) that will make themselves a mound in the yard. The worst time that I've had with them has been when I was planting my BF garden in the pond. One of the plant's pots must have had them in it because my hands were covered and I was rubbing them all over the grass to get them off. Still there were only about a half a dozen bites. They hurt like the dickens though. The times they bother my feet are when they sneak inside of one of my sandals while I'm watering and I don't realize it.... until I feel that massive bite. I can sling off a shoe pretty quickly! :-)

From the sounds of it, the whole state was just one big gust of wind all day long. I could hear my bouganvilla creaking on the side fence most of the day. I usually only hear it once in a while. I also noticed that the wind chimes were going crazy out there the entire day. I can still hear them, though usually I never hear them at night.

Janet

Yes...bravo on saving the vine...and the Frits too come :o)

What an ordeal!!!

What is with this weather lately?! Even down here in the south tip of Texas it was horribly windy!

~ Cat

Paige - From what I am learning, passion vine are very hardy and hold up to and return from all kinds of abuse, so they should be fine. Looks like you managed to save the main trunk of the vines. It will probably be twice as thick next year because of all this! lol And you'll have twice as many GFs next year! :-) That's what happened to us the following Spring after we were hit by the 2 hurricanes in 2004.

That's scary that you were out there by yourself. If you had gotten hurt, there was noone around to help you. I'm glad you were able to save the fence, but I'd rather the fence be damaged instead of you getting hurt. Did you have a cellphone on you at the time, just in case? (This is the "mother" in me talking! My kids will tell you that I think of every possible scenerio that "could" happen and tell them to be careful! lol) I hope you don't ever have to go through that again. I get headaches when the outside pressure changes suddenly. I wonder if that might have caused your headache? And of course the stress compounded it! Whew! Looks like you managed to save everything from being shredded and ripped up. That was quick and creative thinking!

How awful! In all that wind?!

You know a couple years ago my passion vine had gone way up where it is now across a big jump (on a string to help it) between the shop and the deck making an beautiful arch and surrounding the lattice up on the deck. I was so thrilled at it's growth. Then one evening I decided to go ahead and eliminate the morning glories that were also heading up there and started pruning away at the lowest part of the vines close to the ground. Soon as I wacked immediately I knew it was not a morning glory I'd severed... it was the passion vine! The one that went up on the deck! Noooooooooooooooooo!

Cut 8 inches off the ground and no way to plant it back which I didn't think would work anyway, I was freaking out! As a last ditch effort I grabbed a pot tall enough to reach it threw some dirt in it and dipped the loose cut end of the vine into rooting hormone and stuck it in the dirt of the pot. Next day all the leaves were turning brown. boo hoo! I cried. I pulled all the dead leaves off so it wouldn't look so bad and looked at it's poor skeleton in tears sick at my stomach. Couple weeks later I noticed it was still green. Then a couple more weeks and it was putting out new growth! And so was the other end of the stump that was still rooted! Yay!!!! It looked pretty bad on that end of the patio for a while but it survived.

Oh, the horror! I've not done anything that drastic but I have accidentally cut the wrong plant. You suddenly start thinking things like "I just did it...maybe I can stick it back together!" lol I've had good results just rooting the pv in water, so I might have ton of cuttings to start in the next few days.

Last year we had a pumpkin show up in my bed and I left it because my son had always wanted one. It was getting pretty big but wasn't ripe, and guess what I did. Yep.

I bet we've all learned the hard way to slow down and not be so hasty when pruning.

Paige, when you have rooted cuttings, I could use some for a butterfly bed project I an working on, it is for the children's garden at the Fielder museum.
There are 50 feet of chainlink fence that need something pretty on it.
So that way your vine can be put to good use, and not be wasted.
Josephine.

Josephine, you know I'd be happy to share with you for that! I'll have to go see it! We plan on trying to put the fence back together this weekend, which means I have to probably cut a huge portion of the plant off.

Becky, that really was a mom question. LOL! No, didn't have my phone with me. My son was here, although he's only 7 and might have never noticed I was gone. lolol I wasn't worried about getting hurt, just about that darn fence falling on my plants! I really wasn't "alone" with all the praying I was doing anyways! :)

Thank you Paige, I'll be glad to take you there any time, although right now there isin't much to see, I just planted the bed, but it should be really pretty next year.
Aren't we gardeners hopeful? Allways looking to something better next year, I think we are very lucky to have this attitude, don't you?

Yes Josephine, I love my new attitude and love of life thanks to my new hobby. I wish that I had discovered it much earlier, which is why I try to encourage my son to be involved in it now. I've learned to be much more patient and still. :)