Dueling Vines

Ornamental Grape Ivy dueling with English Ivy

I've been out in the garden, not to work, but enjoy.  However when I start to walk around I see things that I need to tend to.  The greatest problem in our garden is the vines.  If you were to say to Rick, how's the ivy, he would turn green and that's not from envy!!


I know that when the previous owner was starting out and landscaping the tiny little ivy plants all looked so innocent; who would have ever suspected?


I start to pull then away from where they are intruding and in many places it can't be done.  I keep trying to tear out these invasive overwhelming parts of my garden (life) and I realize I can't do it alone.  I have let it go too long.


Had I been diligent each and every year to keep the ivy and vines in there place, then it would have never gotten this far.  So far that the task is just too big for me.  I need experts and heavy equipment.


We have a wood privacy fence in the backyard.  It is completely covered with ivy and vines.  It used to be just English Ivy and now the Ornamental Grape Ivy and the Virginia Creeper ar staking their claim.


I know from experience that you can pull the trailers off of the vines where they are invading, but seriously, this 'pruning' just causes them to be more prolifict.  It is the lazy man's way out and I'll admit it, when it comes to these vines I want the easy way out!


The correct way to rid my yard (life) of these vines is to trace these tendrils back to the root, the root of the problem.  For, the trailers from that root are only products of the root or true problem.  Continually removing the products or symptoms only serve to make the root stronger and flourish.


I am really talking about ivy and vines.  But, as I was furiously yanking and pulling to rid my yard of these things, it occured to me how many times to be truly free of something in my life that is tying me up and locking me down, I have to go to the root and rip it out.


That may take help and heavy equipment.  I have seen in my life so many of my friends and family tied up and locked down by habits like alcoholism, smoking, drugs, gossiping, anger, bitterness, etc. The more they try on their own to rip out only the tendrils that invade the most obvious areas of their lives, the root continues to enlarge and grow deeper.


If you are someone who no longer wants to keep fighting the tendrils of an area of bondage in your life and can't rip the root out by yourself, call in an expert and have them bring in the heavy equipment.


I know that once I get the root of these ivys and vines removed there will be a refreshing feeling to the garden.  Some rebuilding and replanting will be necessary, but there will once again be order and beauty.

Clemantis

This is my favorite vine.  It is beautiful and gentle.  It has huge big flowering blooms that are amazing to look at.  It is not intrusive and is easily contained.  Last year when Rick was going to tackle the vine/ivy problem, this was the first to go.  He had no idea that they were my favorite and that I had purposely planted them.  I think after my response to their erradication, he has decided to let me deal with the vine problem on my own.

Ornamental Grape Ivy

This is one picture of our fence which will soon be completely covered in this ivy.  I'm ok with that, if it will just stay in its place.

Virginia Creeper

This is on the side of our house and you can see the Virginia Creeper on the fence behind the Japanese Maple.  This is where I was pulling this morning before quiting, to come write this blog.  I did fine until I found a main vine that I couldn't break with my hands no matter how hard I pulled.  It was about as big around as my little finger.

Mouse Ear

This is mouse ear and I love it too.  It is a ground cover and will not grow without dirt.  It will creep down the wall, but you can easily cut it and keep it back.  It will invade everywhere there is ground to cover though.  But for the most part it plays well with others.  Encourage it to grow around the other plants and not over them, and it will do fine.

Honeysuckle

This is Honeysuckle as it should be; up the trellis and out of the way.  Leading to this mound of honeysuckle are two large thick 'trunks', one is slightly visible in this photo.  It would take major equipment to get this dug up and out of the way.  But once it has grown up, it stays up.  I haven't had any trouble with this one.  I do have to keep little sucker trailers from creeping out from the bottom though.  But since I have not let it get out of control, it isn't a problem.

Honeysuckle on my Hydrangea

(oooh that almost sounds kinky)

The thing I hate about honeysuckle is that it is hard to control.  This is my hydrangea bush that hasn't quite come out yet and I see a huge honeysuckle tendril wrapped tightly around it.  I'll have to tackle that soon.

Honeysuckle out of control

OK, here is what I was talking about.  This is one of several everygreen bushes we have in our backyard.  They are so inflitrated with honeysuckle that I am ready to get chains and dozers (if it were possible to get a dozer in the backyard) and yank the whole mess out.  It is more than I can handle.


I wonder what else in my life there is that I should look at; that could be on the verge of being - out of control?


Nancy Jackson, daydreamer extraordinaire
DAY JOB LINKS...
Dreams Do Come True
Dragonfly In Amber Designs

Progress

Recently I posted pictures of my backyard in 2005 when it was at one of the most beautiful points since owning this property. I also spoke of how I hadn't been as dilligent to keep it up and that a lot of work needed to be done to 'restore' it to its former glory.

Well as I promised, I am keeping you guys posted on my progress.  I worked for two solid days cleaning and planting in one half of the backyard.  It is the part of the yard that we spend the most time in and the part that makes the first impression when someone walks out of the backdoor.

I still need to do the other half.  I can hardly bear to walk over to that other side.  The lack of attention over the past few years doesn't just taunt me, but screems 'neglect' as loud as it can.

I am determined to conquer it and not just restore it to its former glory but to take it above and beyond.

The picture above was taken at an angle where I could get as many of my creeping phlox in the pictue as possible.  I love to see them in full bloom and they won't last but for a short time.  This year I also planted more of them so that hopefully next year the will be all along the entire wall.

As I was planting a week or so ago I was contemplating as usual.  Each year I try to buy both annuals and perenials.  I hope to one day be able to just plan a few annuals and have the perenials keep the flowerbeds full.

I've had a few perenials die that I have had to replace and I've taken out some that the previous owner had planted that I found to be horrible!  So sometimes it feels like I make three steps forward and one or two steps back.  Slow progress.

I also feel like that in my personal life sometimes.  I greatly desire to become the person that God has designed me to be.  I know I cannot change overnight but it is a gradual cleansing process and building process that only time spent in a relationship with Christ and the word can achieve. 

But I must admit that I get restless having to wait for the seasons to change so I can once again dive in and start to make changes. I know that to make changes born of my own striving will quickly die when winter comes.  Only changes initiated and nurtured under God's direction and instruction will flourish.

I am NOT a winter person.  But without the winter there would not be as much rest in the building process.  I do not work outside in the winter.  I sit by the fireplace and just leave to God all that I worked so hard on in the spring.  And only the new spring will tell what survive and what died.

Each new spring I build on what I did the year before.  But even though some things may not have survived, all things do not die and I see that there is forward motion and progress.  I love what Joyce Meyer says, "I may not be all that I should be, but thank God I am not what I used to be."  Excuse me Joyce if I did not quote that exact.

My garden will never be perfect.  There will always be things to change, tweek and make better - just like me.

Another view of the plox

An azalia around at the untended side of the yard.

New plox and other plants.

This Japanese Maple didn't get hit by a frost this year.  Outstanding red velvet color!

My planter that used to be a birdbath.

More plox and a couple of pots.

Another azalia.  Don't look close.  There are a lot of weeds to pull.

Path on the east side of the house.  I added the little black fence this year to keep the plants safe from being trampled.

The other part of the path.

I change the colors each year.  I guess this year it is jewel tones!  My grandson Braxton helped pick.

Nancy Jackson, daydreamer extraordinair

DAY JOB LINKS...
Dreams Do Come True
Dragonfly In Amber Designs

Beauty Restored

Well, it is time for me to go out and attack the yard again!  I have lived in this current home for 6 years and the yard was very pretty when I moved in, but for the first two years after moving here, I planted hundreds of plants and spent countless hours grooming the backyard.

This is a picture of the yard in May of 2005 and it is my goal to get the yard not only this pretty but better this year.  Last year I was so busy and very neglectful of the yard and I am paying for it this year.

As I was out working in the yard I began to think, again, that the gardens are like our lives and tending to the things that overtake us cannot be neglected. 

Winter is a natural pruning cycle and the green growth withers and dies and falls to the ground.  In the spring the new growth springs up and pushes aside the old brown stubble.  And so it goes year after year.

One of the most tiresome parts of the gardening experience is the initial cleanup of the old dead growth.  It would be nice to just take a rake and make quick work of it all, but there are tiny sprouts of new growth that are very tender just below the dead stuff.  So I go out and gently by hand rake up the old dead growth and toss it in the can.  Reminds me of God's gentleness towards our lives and rather than taking a sharp rake to the dead stuff in our lives, he gently uses His hands and sweeps away the old to allow the new to flourish.

I know that it is probably my imagination, but it appears to me that the new little sprouts feel so refreshed getting exposed to the air and sunshine that they seem to just reach even higher to the sky.

When cleaning sometimes I think that I can leave piles of old dead leaves and such in certain places where no one will ever see them.  But I have learned that the dirt needs to be exposed.  Leaving old leaves can create mold and decay and the plants will die.

Yet another lesson about life I've learned.  How many times have we said to ourselves that it is ok if this or that is still in my life, after all no one will ever see or will ever know.  But the truth of the matter is that if left, it will cause decay and rot in our lives.  It really isn't about what impression we leave on others, but it is about our own lives being full of life and void of decay!

Yes it takes time to clean things up and oh yes how my back ached, but now when I walk out into the backyard and it is clean the feeling that washes over me is refreshing and so worth the work. Enjoy these older pictures of my yard. I'll post newer ones soon and you can see if I was able to tame the overgrowth and restore it to its former beauty or beyond!!

Nancy Jackson, daydreamer extraordinaire

DAY JOB LINKS...
Dreams Do Come True
Dragonfly In Amber Designs