A New Find!

It always excites me to stumble upon something new and beautiful on the hillside.  My son and I were out searching for an elusive Yellow Jacket's nest.  These wasps have been bombarding us every time we go fishing and I am afraid it will not be long before one of us gets stung.  Yesterday, Ms. Ez was particularly bothered and was snapping at them right and left so it will most likely be her that has the bad luck.  A sting in the mouth will not be fun!  But as I said, our search..while not productive in finding the wasp nest, did turn up a nice find!

On the west side of the house, there is the remains of a rotted Black Gum Tree.  This old log was intentionally left as it is the home of many critters..some I like...a lot I do not, but since it is far from the house, I had no qualms about letting it stay where it fell.  Today, I noticed the log was being intertwined with a lovely vine!  The most beautiful white flowers were just covering the area!   I told Michael that come this winter, the vine will be moved to the arbor!  He just shrugged his shoulders and muttered something to the effect of "adding it to the list".  I cannot help it!  When I find an interesting plant (especially one that blooms!), I just have to move it closer to the gardens!  I can enjoy it much more when I can see it without having to gallivant around the hillside!  When I made that declaration..he looked at me incredulously!  I know, I know...I wander the hillside relentlessly but it really would be nice to have it on one of the arbors!  When I reminded him how much easier it would be to mow the area without having to worry about "my" vine, he agreed that we would move it!

The vine in question is a Sweet Autumn Clematis!  It has a lightly fragrant flower of brilliant white petals and tufts of yellow and white stamens.  The thin vines are covered with dark green leaves that are almost heart-shaped.  Another name for this plant is Virgin's Bower.  A bower is a vine-covered, sheltered area which could easily refer to this vine.  The virgin is in reference to the purity of the white flowers after the long, hard summer.  After the flowers fade, they are replaced by golf-ball sized seed heads that are almost as interesting as the flowers are beautiful!  Each seed in the cluster has a long, fuzzy tail!

I am excited about possibly having this in the garden next fall.  Hopefully it will do well and perhaps even reseed itself enough to cover one of the arbors!  The Confederate Jasmine will bloom in the early spring along with the wisteria, next will be the Seven Sisters Cluster Rose and then the Autumn Clematis will wind up the growing season!  The arbors will be continuously covered in loveliness!  What a wonderful find!