Now what?

I noticed something about my convolvulus.


It's growing from the stalk, not from the vine climbing on the stalks. Which means these stalky things I took for four o'clocks are in fact convolvulus (convolvuluses? convolvuli?), and the supplier was right about the "non-climbing habit" after all. But then... what are these vines doing in the Jungle? I didn't plant anything climby in the Jungle, or I thought I didn't. The leaves don't look right for morning glories, and now it has buds on it which are most definitely not morning glories or convolvuli.


Is this another zombie? Did I seed anything climbing in previous years? I remember I had sweet peas, but they never flowered and the leaves aren't right for that. But I don't know any climbing weeds in town either. That might not be to the point, since I did finally discover some black mustards growing in my landlord's garden, but that's not to say mine came from his. Could be the opposite. In fact his are much smaller and haven't flowered yet, but then again, he's had a guy with a weed-whacker go through it once or twice, so maybe they're only growing now because no one has paid any attention to that garden in some time.

Speaking of the black mustard, by the way, the parable of the mustard seed was read at church this Sunday, and it says that mustard is a tiny seed but grows to the size of a tree. Really? Good thing I killed all of mine then. It probably wouldn't grow that big in this climate, but I have enough to do with the trees I planted myself.

Anyway, so I still don't know where the black mustard came from, or for that matter the fleabane, which is much bigger than the ones growing wild in town. And I have no idea what this vine in my Jungle is and where it came from. Judging from the buds on it, it's gonna be another pathetically small flower and I can get rid of it too. But I'd really like to know what all these weeds are doing in my garden and how they get here. Could insects be carrying them? I noticed some of my leaves have been chewed by insects, though not in alarming numbers.

Gardening is such a mysterious thing.

Are you a zombie?

I don't like the look of this. I have to wait for it to open and see if it's something I planted, but it looks a lot like a zombie so far. And it would be nice to chop it off, because it's making a lot of shade. We'll see when it blooms.

It's a jungle out there

I didn't do individual photos because those plants who have had significant changes already got their own posts. For the rest, mostly they're growing a lot of greenery. The Wall of Insanity, having reached the railing thanks to my bait, is now colonizing it with great gusto. One might even say élan. Some of the vines have already reached the top of the railing. Now let's get some flowers going, m'kay?

The Jungle is junglelicious as always. I killed the Head Zombie, detangled it from the convolvulus and replaced it with a 4' stake. So, the "non-climbing" convolvulus is at the top of the stake already. There is still only one vine of convolvulus blooming in the entire Jungle. The poppies are just hanging there looking lame. The four o'clocks and phacelias have some buds. The globe thistles don't seem to be making progress, having let themselves get shaded by everybody else. I'm gonna buy more next year and figure out a different approach. Other than that, there is still all sorts of stuff growing in there, and we'll know what it is if it ever flowers.

Everybody else is doing fine with not much change from last week, except the rose cuttings. They had so much fun in the fun gel, they partied themselves to death. See what fun will do to you? So, I got new ones yesterday. If those don't work I might have to wait until next year to try again, because the mother plant is running out of suitable growth for cuttings. Assuming I have any idea which growth is suitable for cuttings.

You cannot be serious!!!!!

The Head Zombie is starting to bloom.


Can't see it? Wait.


That's as much magnification as I can get. It's so small, even macro is pointless.

Seriously, you zombie, you grew two feet tall, shaded my whole garden, drank my fertilizer, and THIS is how you flower? You die now. You totally die.

Well, at least now I know what it is. Black mustard, or something like it. That still doesn't explain why it's in my garden, because I certainly never sowed it nor have I ever seen the like of it around town. But that's what it is. And the other zombie seems to be some kind of fleabane.

Next year I think I'll just kill the zombies right off the bat.

Lawn zombies

There was a zombie growing in my lawn. I'm pretty sure it's a columbine, though I didn't seed any in 2010. I decided to transplant it to the Jungle. Let me tell you, you have to look long and hard to find a spot in the Jungle to plant anything these days. I think I may have gotten a little carried away with seeding. On the other hand, had they not taken so long to start growing, this would never have happened. I'm totally blaming the seeds. Now I'd like to get some bells of Ireland to throw in there. I've tried them twice and never got anything, and they don't seem to be coming up as zombies either.

Fractal zombies

The Head Zombie is getting taller and taller, and the taller it grows, the more it makes smaller and smaller copies of itself on its branches. That's creepy.

What in the world?

It rained half of yesterday and was overcast the rest of the day, so I didn't spend much time in the garden, thinking nothing would happen that day. And then on my last tour of inspection before bed, I find this:


Er... Is that supposed to be a flower? It's one of the zombie plants.

For the first flower of summer, that was certainly underwhelming.

Take that, zombie plant!

I chopped off the head zombie. There was a storm in the night, and this morning the evil thing was lying down on my globe thistles. It wasn't broken or anything, just floppy. I righted it two or three times and it kept lying down again, so I amputated it. Because the main stalk was about as thick as my little finger, I figured pulling it out would disturb all the plants that are growing around it, so I cut it off at the base with the pruning shears instead.

That's the great thing about gardening: I'm sole master after God. You cross me, I can kill you any time I want. I hope the example of this zombie plant will teach the others a lesson.