Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Friday, June 09, 2006
Passiflora = Rampant Weed
I was so excited last year when the passionflower (Passiflora incarnata) started to bloom. How cool! How tropical-looking!
Later in the fall, I noticed a few shoots coming up in the lawn nearby. Uh oh. Well, I thought, maybe it isn't really hardy here - I've never seen it growing anywhere near here.
This spring I didn't see any signs of it for a long time. Good. Problem solved.
Not exactly. It's just late to sprout, apparently. It's now coming up in the midst of some Siberian irises, and in the neighbor's lawn, and in my lawn. And worst of all, I dug up a new bed nearby, and it's sprouting from every microscopic bit of root I unknowingly cut and spread around. I kept thinking of the Sorcerer's Apprentice while digging it out.
Now I have a dilemma. I really like the stems and flowers and really hate the roots. I know if I let it go, I'm going to have a bigger problem next year. And if I dig it up and throw it away, then no more passionflowers. <sigh> .....I wonder if I can buy a tropical species (i.e. not hardy here) cheaply enough that I could use it as an annual.....
One thing I don't understand - since this is a native plant, why hasn't it spread to cover the entire continent by now?
By the way, this is the thesaurus entry for rampant. All of the following seem to apply.
Main Entry: rampant
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: uncontrolled
Synonyms: aggressive, blustering, boisterous, clamorous, dominant, epidemic, exceeding bounds, excessive, extravagant, exuberant, fanatical, flagrant, furious, growing, impetuous, impulsive, luxuriant, outrageous, pandemic, predominant, prevalent, profuse, raging, rampaging, rank, rife, riotous, spreading, tumultuous, turbulent, unbridled, unchecked, uncontrollable, ungovernable, unrestrained, unruly, vehement, violent, wanton, widespread, wild
Source: Roget's New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.2.1)
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