Today as I was going through my yard admiring my lantana (butterfly plants) shown here. I have a number of flowering plants at the moment but this really seems to attract the insects for a drink.
I was glad to see a number of butterflies actually feeding. I am not an expert and so I can't tell you the ones that I saw. But there were other insects as well enjoying the bounty.
As relaxing as this was, I was distubed to see a very nasty growth of some sort of vine which has taken over my fence and is beginning to take over everything else as well. Here are a couple of shots.
Anyone from the South United States recognize this? I makes little black berries in clusters after the blooms are gone. It grows like crazy and goes everywhere with tendrils. It is very easy to break off until it gets thick and then it is tough. Does anyone know of a good "online" guide to noxious invasive vines?
The MYSTERY Plant is called "skunk vine" interested in reading more about it? follow this link: http://www.invasive.org/eastern/species/3059.html
Thanks to all those that contributed ideas!!
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http://www.usna.usda.gov/Gardens/invasives.html
Aggressive plants need to be controlled or removed, sure, however please remember...
"But a weed is simply a plant that wants to grow where people want something else. In blaming nature, people mistake the culprit. Weeds are people's idea, not nature's. " ~Author Unknown
"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic, 1878
..
U wishing you laughter
Anyways, you have a beautiful butterfly plant, but I've also never seen that exact vine, though we've got something similar to it in Connecticut here where we're living and I've spent the summer and part of the spring and will continue as long as it's not too cold to keep on pulling the vine up a little at a time, as the one we've got is also trying to choke out other things we've planted. I don't know what ours is either - it's similar, but not quite the same thing.
This might help if/when your vine is entangled in your other plants to get it out - what I've been doing is taking a pair of kitchen scissors out with me and instead of trying to pull the vine away from my other plants, (afraid I'd wreck them) I've been snipping the vine away from them and then removing it. Just a thought as it's been working for me.
Marilyn
Trumpet vines, campsis radicans are much like mint plants. How, you ask? People either love them or HATE them with a passion. Some people compare this beautiful vine to kudzu or poison ivy. It's blooms are beautiful in shades of red, orange and yellow white or purple depending on the sub species. And they attract hummingbirds, wasps, and bees that are good for the garden plus birds in the winter if you leave the pods on the vines. It can be used as a screen for privacy, and it adapts to almost any soil, except heavy and wet. It transplants easily and can be grown from cuttings and is hardy down to about -30F (-34.4C). It can be grown in elevations as high as 5500 feet and it's drought tolerant.
The problem is that in IDEAL situations it can be invasive to the point of creating enemies out of the most mild mannered home owner Do not plant it up against a house or building, though it is tempting. Try planting it against a fence that is between sidewalks, driveways or other areas like stone walls or paths that would contain it.
-Try a method that is often used for mint. Plant your vine in a 5 gallon bucket with the bottom removed--or something similar, that will keep it somewhat contained.
-Plant next to a telephone pole or light pole where it can climb and you can mow the grass around it regularly to head off shoots.
-Deadhead the trumpet vine, AND keep it trimmed back in the spring and fall once it starts taking off.
-Wear gloves when handling trumpet vine. Some people will get a rash from handling the foliage, so it's better to err on the cautious side. Some modern cultivars are suppose to be less invasive than the trumpet vine found in the ditches and growing wild.
-Do not use a tree as a pole for the trumpet vine to climb. Eventually it will strangle the tree. Use an actual pole or fence instead and again, prune in spring or fall, or even during mild winters.
For many of us trumpet vine is a valuable plant for wildlife, and a sentimental plant that we remember from our grandmother's yard and garden. Know your climate, take precautions, and you can grow and live with it too!
autumn olive
bishop's or gout weed
black locust
black swallow wort
common reed
garlic mustard
japanese bamboo
japanese barberry
japanese and shrub honeysuckle
multiflora rose
norway maple
oriental bittersweet
porcelain berry
purple loosestrife
shining or common buckthorn
yellow iris
You might try googling "invasive plants Florida" just for the heck of it, to see what you get.
I'm going to email your plea for help to a gather connection of mine in the south who has a great garden. He may be able to help you!
and until I get some stuff done and out of my way, and get back into the whole school routine thing, not likely to be around a whole lot; sorry
Sorry, I don't recognize that vine. I've got struggles with something I call a "strangler vine" here in Ohio - much to my chagrin, I see the local nursery actually SELLS it! They don't call it what I call it.
It's a major invasive.
Good luck -
I live in Michigan and don't know much about tropicals. Sorry, can't help you but if you try calling your local extension service, that would be a good start.
I've never seen that plant, but it looked like something my Minnesota neighbors would love to plant (fast, major coverage) if it could grow up here. Knock wood they don't see it!
Like Bobbi, my first thought was I wondered if the U of Florida's Ext service had it on their site, but I couldn't find that in their Web site. I did find an email address for lawn and garden questions: sfyl@ifas.ufl.edu
Get back to you.
Hugs,
Shirl
Skunk vine........
Now you need a skunk vine grazer. Goats?????
vines from whatever they were wrapped around take
the foliage off and wrap them in a circle carry them to
my home dry them just a tad and make lovely wreaths
from these vines and everyone loved them. But I didn't
know what they were either.
Just Me
Barbie