Putting the weeds to work for Us

[Buster's Uncle]

Yeah, it was a flash picture taken at sunset.

[ariete]

rename the thread uncle 'put the money fo' da weed' ... to thrill, peoples see ghosts

[Buster's Uncle]

So, on September 18, I decided to do something about the flat top - it somehow just didn't suit the arch.  There were two of those curlicue hangers left, so I wired them onto the frame and started training vines...

I don't know if there's enough growing time left this season to get it filled in adequately on both sides, but it's looking pretty good.

[Buster's Uncle]

Here's from a week ago, the sixth.

[Buster's Uncle]

Here's where we catch up - Friday, the 11th.

I'm getting some modest new growth, but modest is key.  Even though it was in the eighties over the weekend and we just had several days of rain, the vine still apparently knows what time of year it is, and isn't going to grow like I'd hoped until it gets what passes for cold here.  It's simply showing no signs of interest in thickening the cover to what was there in late June.

I'll keep on it, but I fear that we're basically done until Spring - that's the beginning of March some years in this unnatural state, but I very well may not be here then.

I really hate that, 'cause it's gonna be the cat's bottom in a year or two, even without me, and I'd like to see.


Siiigh.  I still think it's pretty, and was a thing worth doing.

We've discussed doing something even more ambitious back in America, with Muscadines, when Mylochka retires and moves into Gramma's house.  They're not as pretty, leafwise, but they will grow like mad, given something to climb -they grow wild a bit back home- and you get a lot of decent grapes in the fall.

[ariete]

in the last photo what's that purple mash which flow by your garden (w/aliens??)

[Buster's Uncle]

Same as the purple at the bottom of the first.  I don't know what it's called.

[Geo]

I really hate that, 'cause it's gonna be the cat's bottom in a year or two, even without me, and I'd like to see.

Cat's bottom? Don't know that expression.

..., when Mylochka retires and moves into Gramma's house...

Oh, so you're the baby brother? Since AFAIK you're still far away from retirement.

[Buster's Uncle]

It's a superlative, like da bomb.


I'm three years younger, and I retired a long time ago...

[ariete]

ehy uncle are you allright?? broadcast news says central texas and austin are underwater ... i've thinked immediatly to your garden ...

[Buster's Uncle]

That's hundreds of miles away.  It's been rainy here, but that's all.

[Buster's Uncle]

Here's a shot from Nov. 22, when it was on its way out...  I'll resize and post three more from the dead of winter shortly.

[Buster's Uncle]

These are from 20 February.

I hated to leave Texas when we did -leaves were just beginning to sprout the week we came back to America- I'd hoped to stay until about the end of May, to get to see close to peak growth.  I put a lot of work into this thing last year, albeit starting a teeny bit late; I HATE missing the big payoff  this year.

Fortunately, some of Mylochka's friends decided to have a retirement party for her without bothering to consult her first.  Like, there's grad school cronies flying in from out of state.  So she decided she'd better show up, and there should be pics of the Ivy Gate in all its untrained wild glory coming about the first week of June...

 

[Dio]

These are from 20 February.

I hated to leave Texas when we did -leaves were just beginning to sprout the week we came back to America- I'd hoped to stay until about the end of May, to get to see close to peak growth.

Please define the term 'America'. Texas was in the United States the last time I checked, and as such could be considered 'America'. This arguement could even be extended to include other countries in North, Central, and South America.

[Buster's Uncle]

America would be what I call the county in which I was born at the base of the Appalachian mountain chain in North Carolina, and aside from college, some adventures mostly in the 90s, and taking care of Mylochka in recent years, have lived my life.

Texans are pretty sure they're a country, so I've gotten out of the habit of having to explain that joke.  America is home.