There was a plant already here when I moved in. It was an invader really. It belonged to the neighbor next door, so the roots were taking up water from over there. The wall between us is 8 feet high and the lattice that this vine grew on is another three feet on top of that. This was a creeper, like grape vines. It filled the lattice and produced the most beautiful purple flowers, three to five inches around.
It crawled all the way across the length of my patio, on a lattice or plastic. I didn't know about the lattice until the neighbor killed it.
It was their plant, after all. I had just been enjoying it for almost a year. I will tell you more about how it happened and the rescue below. The blooms used to be so gorgeous, my favorite flower which is large and varying shades of purple. I will see if I can dig up some photos of those times. (nothng with the lattice full of vines and the quantity of flowers she produced)
I couldn't find very many pictures of it. I've only been here a year and I thought I took more pictures than this. Here's the door and of the lattice, then it crept under the upstairs neighbor's balcony.
And kept going, completely covering the first bedroom's window like an outdoor curtain. So far, I have only covered plants that I had planted and this post will cover one as well. This same one.
It also had grown half way across the back wall where there was nothing for it to grab onto, it remained on the floor almost to the hammock, about 25 feet. Let me tell you how it happened.
One day, I noticed that suddenly the flowers were wilting and all the leaves were drooping. I did not know what was happening until it started turning brown. The vines that was halfway across my patio were still very green and I decided to pull one leaf from it and put its stem into a pot, hoping to save its life.
I went from having a full invasion, a welcome invasion, of the most beautiful flowers for taking up half of my patio, double what you have seen on the lattice there.
That was almost a year ago and I had almost forgotten about the leaf I had planted into the soil on this side of the fence.
I'm assuming that the owner of the apartment next door, which is in another building, wanted to sell the property and was trying to clean up the vegetation a little bit so that they could take their plants. I don't know those people and I didn't know the building manager either. But that is my assumption.
Whoever moved in next door, over the lattice, has not bothered to clean up the dead remnants of what was once beautiful. I have not either. As a matter of fact, the bricks you see are the top of the chimney for the barbecue grill that was here when I got here.
The other night, we were cooking and suddenly all of it caught fire. I grabbed the hose and sprayed it all until it was out. But with any luck, The roots part of these vines will be in my pot and heading toward the lattice to fill it once more.
About a month ago, I was seeing something climbing toward the air conditioner outside the first bedroom window. I looked and I thought I saw familiar leaves. A little bit like marijuana leaves but smaller without the pointy ridges around the edges. I was letting things grow out a little bit.
Summer is starting and I want to weed and plant. I was cutting everything out of these pots. I remembered that leaf I had planted and was careful to look for signs of life in that area. That leaf had continued the struggle that all nature needs to do. Here is what that plant looks like today. No flowers yet...
It is only chest high, but it is going up the same cabling for the internet that it had been climbing on before. It is strong enough that I believe I can swipe a young vine and pull the same trick - stick in in the ground. This one will do...
My job now is to guide it back to where it was so I can have 30 to fifty daily blooms like before. I am sending it up towards the upstairs balcony floor, and over to the lattice it once occupied. I am also sending it the other direction, though I will need something on the two empty walls for it to climb on.
At the rate that is growing, I believe within a few months I will have an update with some of those nice purple flowers! I am still looking for a photo of what it used to look like and I will put it on the update if I find it.
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