The grapevines are starting to lose their leaves and I need to trim things back soon. The vines have created a privacy wall around the front yard, but I’m looking forward to opening things up again for a while.
Grapevine wall
The vine has grown up to 30 feet long in some places and is still grabbing and wrapping around branches and wires along the fence.
Over, through and around - amazing!
Up, over and around twice! How does it know to do this??!!!!
The vine looks messy from afar, but taking an up-close view is so interesting! Another little miracle of nature…..
Tagged as:
grapes,
tendrils,
Tricky tendrils,
vines
Delicious Grapes!!! Some of the best things I’ve grown in the my garden this year are grapes. I only got a few clusters but they are red, seedless and very tasty.
I found this plant about 3 years ago. Someone was moving and put it out in the alley. Now that I’ve gotten two years worth of fruit, I have decided that the variety is Red Flame Seedless, a pretty common variety to be found at local nurseries and ‘big box’ stores, too.
I need to read up on proper pruning technique because I think my small yield is due to bad pruning last year. I really chopped away without much regard other than to take an out-of-control plant back to a compact, manageable state.
I can’t bring myself to cut this bunch because it’s in the perfect place to offer people a taste when they walk by on the sidewalk.
TASTE ME!!!
Tagged as:
grapes,
red flame seedless grapes
For a list of safe and poisonous plants, two websites are good resources. I hadn’t looked at these lists for awhile but found them to be a good refresher on poisonous plants.
University of California Garden Web
California Poison Control System
My dog and cats don’t generally eat plants, but it’s good to know what’s lethal out in the yard so I can remove if I see potential for problems. One time our dog, Ringo who wasn’t feeling well, ate a bunch of morning glory leaves. Talk about panic. I calmed down a bit when I learned that the toxic parts of the plant are the seeds and the root, but not before I ran around the back yard like a crazy lady, ripping out garbage cans full of morning vines! And Ringo was fine after a trip to the vet. The problem wasn’t from eating morning glory leaves. He drank too much salt water at the beach that morning and got dehydrated. (Dumb dog!)
I'm being friendly with beautiful Wisteria despite her poisonous seeds and pods!
Tagged as:
California Poison Control System,
poisonous plants,
toxic plants,
University of California Garden Web
