Free plants!

That's how I feel when volunteers pop up in my garden, and in my beds there is no volunteer that is more reliable than cypress vine (Ipomoea quamoclit).

Usually they're smothering trellises, perennials, fences -- whatever they can climb -- but this year they're not as vigorous. I assume that our lack of rain this summer has slowed them down, gave them a late start. I still love the punches of color they provide, even though the hummingbirds missed them this year.

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The trouble with volunteers though is you can't always choose their companions, so color is sometimes an issue. In the first photo the red blooms blend so well with the yellow of Rudbeckia triloba, but sometimes...

...you get color combos that are not so nice. This one with the blue salvia hurts my eyes.

Still though, I'd be extremely disappointed if I didn't see this vine with its feathery foliage somewhere in my garden.

I suppose I should be a bit more proactive and collect some seeds, then plant a few of these myself next year so they get an early start.

It's so much easier to just wait and see where the dozens of seedlings come up themselves though...


Do you grow cypress vine?

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