Corkscrew Buds

Corkscrew Vine Flower Bud


The corkscrews are coming! My corkscrew vine (Vigna caracalla) has buds. I can't believe that I will be getting actual blooms from this vine. I really lost hope as all year it has been growing and taking over my balcony but no sign of any flowers. While spraying (Stupid mites and white flies) I saw buds, everywhere!f I've been so disattached to my balcony garden that I didn't notice. It's been so disappointing to go out and water all the wilting plants that are infested with bad bad bugs that I can't get rid of. Now that the weather is cooling I hope my plants can get healthy again and fight off the bugs. It's so hard to keep them all properly watered when I am gone for 8 hours. I deeply water them all before I go to work but it does not help them all. The corkscrew has been doing really well but it is starting to get mites and the white flies love to hide behind all those leaves. I can't wait to see and smell these blooms. They better come soon before the bugs take over.

Fabric of Petals

Mt. Fuji Morning Glory Lt. Blue

I am always amazed by the blooms of the Mt Fuji Morning Glory. This has been the bloom with the truest color and probably the biggest so far. Previous blooms were more purple, but this time it really was blue. The flower was so big the little vine just tipped over from the weight on the end.



When I picked up the flopped over vine with the bloom on it there were about 8 ants crawling all in the bloom. I managed to get a few bad shots of some of them. I really liked how the petals looked like fabric. It was just stunning to me. I wish I could have gotten better pictures but I was just not having a good time with the lighting. These are the times I wish I had a great macro lens.



I have started to build an invisible trellis for this vine. I had thought of putting having it twine up the railing. This was my original plan until I got some winter squash seeds and planted those. Those winter squash will need the railing, I'm sure. So now I have to figure out where to situate the winter squash. I want to put the winter squash were the morning glories are right now. But I have no where else to put the morning glories. I could have them climb up one corner but I have no room to put that pot in that corner. It's the corner by were the storage door opens. If I put the pot there the door will not open all the way and I won't be able to move it once the vines get going up the trellis. So I might just put the winter squash to the left of the morning glories so they cross in a section then go their separate ways. The morning glories will go towards the wall and the winter squash will go on the railing creeping it's way towards the corkscrew vine. I'm a vine addict and just bought way to many vining things for my own good.

For those that do not know what an invisible trellis is I am more than glad to inform you. It's just a trellis using fishing line. That is what makes it invisible. Normally you would run the fishing line vertically but since I have no ladder Mine will be horizontal and I hope that works out just as well. I'll probably add fishing line vertically but I'll have to attach it to the horizontal fishing line instead of attaching it to an eye screw. I got 2 eye screws in right now. I stopped putting them in today because I noticed the morning glories have spider mites .I don't want to put the screws in and the fishing line if the morning glories won't make it there.

Growing and Blooming

White Petunias

As tired as I am of Petunias I still love taking pictures of my white ones. They are just bursting with blooms and I hardly find any old ones to pick off. At work we get in tons of petunias. We have a whole table filled with wave petunias. Half of our six pack table is petunias. Our Petunias just don't do well at the stores because they either don't get watered enough don't get enough sun or get fried. Finally yesterday I could throw out some of those ugly Petunias. We had gotten a load of six packs in with no where to put them. The Petunias just weren't selling any more. My boss just said throw out the uglies and the ones no longer flowering. Now that the Petunias are gone I don't feel so much hate towards them any more. Now my new found hate is Celosia. We have tons of six pack Celosia. I put around 12 flats under the six pack table and then converted half of the 4 inch table for some more flats of six packs. Why did we get so many, no one really likes them here because everyone just complains how leggy and gross they look later on?


Hyacinth Bean Vine New Leaves

My Hyacinth Bean Vines have got some nice new leaves growing. I'm patiently waiting for them to get taller so I can pot them in a bigger planter and start their way on the trellis. I need to figure a way to keep the trellis up. I'm sure I'll figure something out but any ideas are welcome. I have it up against the siding of the building so I'm not sure I can stick anything to the wall really. I'll deal with that at another time. I gave my boss the rest of my hyacinth bean seeds because he moved into a new house and lost his other ones. There would be no way I could have any more vines on my balcony. I have 2 corkscrew vines, a clematis, jasmine, and maybe the bougainvillea if I want it that way. I'm pushing my vine limit. The clematis has kind of halted for the past month and hasn't gotten any bigger or any new leaves. I'm wondering if it will stay this way or if it's just warming up.


Myrtle Spurge

I love to look at the Myrtle Spurge seedlings. Their new leaves make them look like they are screaming. I'm surprised I like them so far since I really didn't want to plant them at all. I've been searching for some sedum because I feel like the only gardener that does not have one. There are some at work but not that I like. I just might have to resort to an internet purchase if I don't find anything at the local nurseries. They must have some because they carry a lot of wonderful unique plants.