A Vine That Must Be Tamed

 I love this plant so much that it is the lock screen photo on my phone. It's Antigonon leptopus or Coral Vine.  I've posted about it before.  It is beautiful in fall when it's blooming.  But it grows like a monster, about 20 feet per year! 

Seen in this photo below, the plant is growing from the right side.  It goes up and all the way over the arch. It would have trailed along even more to the left had I let it covering up many other plants.  I did have a climbing rose on the left side of the arch. But it got smothered and died.  I should have known better.    

Here it is from the street side partially blocked by a neighbor's car. All the pink that you see now is just seed pods.  

It is a plant that goes mostly deciduous in winter, which means it looks crappy then. It takes well to a serious whack every year! In fall I  kept trimming and tying it up so that the mailman didn't have to duck too much. At one point our primary mail carrier wouldn't go under it because of how many bees were working the flowers.  I hate to cut it when it's blooming! 

So today I did the big whack! We're having friends over tonight and I didn't want it to be too dangerous in the dark for our guests.  It filled up two trash cans! You can sort of see the plant cut down to about 12' on the right side.

Here it is mostly cleaned out. 

Here again are the beautiful flowers that make Coral Vine with growing.  

Happy Gardening! Happy Winter! 

Happy Holidays!