H is for Honeysuckle, but it could of been for hollyhocks, heliopsis, hyacinth bean vine, hens & chicks and more. It’s time for Alaphe-Thursday, when a letter is given and bloggers find all sorts of things that start with it. I’m trying to choose garden related photos to help me get over the winter blahs!
This perennial vine grows up one part of the trellis garden. It has gorgeous blooms that attract lots of wildlife like butterflies and hummingbirds. This is a photo from 2011 when it was in bloom in mid June. You can root this vine from a green shoot quite easily. Cut some green shoots, remove the leaves at the end and either use rooting compound to develop roots or put in a container of water and you will be able to see when the roots begin to grow. Keep the water fresh and you should see roots in about 14 days. You can then either pot it up or plant it directly into the ground. I’ve got a bare spot on the trellis so will be doing that this spring.
The blooms come from the center of the leaves and open into fragrant flowers. One year a robin used the vine as a shelter for her nest. The nest was built on top of a post and in the above photo you can see some of the grass and twigs hanging down.
Here is the robin sitting close by keeping an eye on the nest. It was tricky working in the trellis garden that spring.
Here is the honeysuckle vine in January at the time of writing this post. You can see the post that the robin chose to make her nest on. In the spring that won’t be visible in a photo. The snow is covering in the roots of this vine and I’m hoping that the blooms on the vine will be just as gorgeous this coming spring.
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