OK, maybe that's more like.....weekly. But you get the idea.
Speaking of coming back from the dead (or something like that).....I have hope yet that my Confederate Jasmine will make it after all. As the comic says, long story short....I have no luck with plants. Except one. My confederate jasmine I bought as a wee baby back in Conroe about ten years ago has thrived in spite of me. By the time I moved down here, it was getting quite large but still potted. When I got settled, I decided to take a chance and plant it in the ground since it had outgrown its pot. Dad made a trellis for me by the carport and so we planted. And it grew. And grew. Seems it likes the South Texas climate even better than that of East Texas. And it has rewarded me with beautiful, fragrant blooms each April since then.
(Picture of my jasmine a few years ago)
OK, so here is the sad part. A few years ago, mother and I happened upon a lovely purple passion flower vine at a nursery and couldn't resist the flowers. So we bought it. Within a week, it was looking very droopy and sad. So we decided to plant this one in the ground too. If you know anything about passion vines (which we didn't), you can see the rest of this story coming. Not only did it perk up, it became THE most aggressive little sucker I have EVER seen. Soon it was twining all over the place, sending out its evil tendrils to wrap around anything in its path. It grew all over the fence, all up an adjacent tree, and soon wormed its way over to my land. We had to constantly cut it down, as it was choking the life out of everything in its way. This has gone on for years, and a couple years ago, dad and I decided that we would just uproot the whole thing and be done with it. And we did. But we weren't.
I'll be danged if that thing hadn't taken root in places we never even knew it crept. This year, its target was my jasmine. Foolish, stupid, distracted little me, I should have yanked that sucker right away. But I didn't. I have been so busy with other yard things (we have been staking out areas for tree planting, and now we have a problem with that.....stay tuned for Lazarus, part two, soon to come). SO.....as aggressive as it is, within weeks, it had COMPLETELY covered my jasmine and intertwined itself with my lovely plant, and nearly CHOKED the life out of it. In fact, the passion vine by this time was full of buds that would have put on a spectacular show. Except, it won't. Because I spent the better of last weekend on a mission - to KILL this plant once and for all. After all, it was the passion vine or my jasmine. And I can tell you which one will die. Once I got the passion vine destroyed, roots and all, what was left of my jasmine was a sad sight indeed. Most of the remaining leaves were brown and falling off. There were a few green ones underneath it all, begging for sunlight and water. So I once again babied it. I watered it. Talked to it. Pleaded with it. After all we've been through together, this plant survived ME and it can certainly survive the passion vine.
Just today, I saw a few tiny flowers starting to emerge, and the green leaves are becoming more numerous. It will take a few years before it gets back to its former glory, but I am sure it will. It's my fault for buying the passion vine in the first place. And it's my fault for not being more vigilant. I hope once more that jasmine lives in spite of me. And blooms its beautiful, fragrant blossoms once again. In fact, at the nursery where I bought it, I smelled it before I saw it. And I followed that incredible smell that led me to that plant that now is fighting for its life in my yard.
So....long story not so short. NEVER buy a passion vine. EVER. I'm afraid it will pop up yet again in another place around here before long. Yes, it is beautiful, BUT.....never again will I even look at one. Unless I'm killing it.
