[email protected]

I've probably told you this before, Sandra. My dad hates morning glories,
as do most of the old folks we know. They grow wild in the cotton fields and
are a menace to those who had to pick cotton by hand. They're considered
invasive weeds.

I got to hear again how much he hated them 2 years ago when I planted a
sunflower house and grew morning glories and moonflowers up the sunflower stems.
He just couldn't understand it.

He's right about the cotton fields. At the same house where we had the
sunflower house, we were surrounded by cotton fields. Cotton is highly fumigated
and sprayed. Yet, when I walked down the tractor paths in the spring with
my dogs, there they were, where nothing but cotton could live--morning glories
valiantly trying to clog the ends of the rows.

I learned a little about why he hates them so much this last year in my
vegetable garden. The previous owners had planted morning glories there before
and I couldn't stop them from growing up around my tomatoes and my cucumbers.
I finally just gave up and put some tomato cages near them so they could
climb. My cats LOVED to sit under the tomato cages in the hot weather, under a
shade of morning glory vines. Yet, the old seeds churned way under by the
tiller sprouted all summer and I picked out little sprouts until the frost.
But I did pull all the vines out out while they were still green and blooming,
before they went to seed.

I still love the way they look, but they simply *thrive* here and, like
honeysuckle, one has to be sure that's what one REALLY wants.

Karen
www.badchair.net


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 7:08:29 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
tuckervill2@... writes:

I've probably told you this before, Sandra. My dad hates morning glories,
as do most of the old folks we know. They grow wild in the cotton fields
and
are a menace to those who had to pick cotton by hand. They're considered
invasive weeds.


OH YEAH!
I forgot to mention that.

My dad used to get a farming magazine, and every issue had advertisements
for stuff that would kill "bindweed" and had beautiful photos of healthy
morning glories. <g>

I'll put your reminder in there. And it's true, if people live right next
to (or are engaged in) commercial farming, I'm selling them weeds. Bummer.
Still, it's not as crazy as shipping a tumbleweed, which is the seeds of
thousands of its kind. I don't think tumbleweeds will grow in the eastern or
southern U.S., and I HOPE NOT now that people have made it their business to
mail them around. I hope they won't grow in Japan.

Sandra


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 7:08:29 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
tuckervill2@... writes:

They grow wild in the cotton fields and
are a menace to those who had to pick cotton by hand


And this:

My parents used to pick cotton. My dad only picked his family's own cotton,
but my mom's family were itenerant cotton pickers for most of the time she
was growing up, and lived in little rental houses near cotton fields,
different places different times. She tells stories of being glad to have little
brothers because it was easier to watch the babies in the shade of the wagon
than it was to pick the cotton, which her older siblings were having to do, and
which she and the younger boys eventually had to do too.

I don't think the menace is to the pickers, but to the growers, as the vines
can stunt or kill the plants or "bind up" the growth. I could be wrong.
That one place in Texas was selling cotton too. I could plant some together
with morning glories and see which one wins. <g> (But cotton won't grow very
well this far north.)

The morning glory and sunflower combo sounds pretty cool! We have a new
stand of bamboo we liberated from where a dumpster was being build last year
(turned out it was for a new school being built out of an old warehouse grocery
store). I put sunflowers in front of it, figuring if the sunflowers want to
hang too far over the driveway that I could tie them to the bamboo.

Sandra

Sandra

Sandra


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Sylvia Toyama

I got to hear again how much he hated them 2 years ago when I planted a sunflower house and grew morning glories and moonflowers up the sunflower stems. He just couldn't understand it.


*****

What are moonflowers? I've never heard of them.

Sylvia

__________________________________________________
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Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 8:45:00 AM Central Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:

I hope they won't grow in Japan.



~~~
Kudzu is from Japan, and it grows in Arkansas (Mississippi, Alabama, etc.)

If you'd ever seen a house swallowed by kudzu, you might think tumbleweeds
were a fair trade. :)

Karen

www.badchair.net


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 8:50:30 AM Central Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:

I don't think the menace is to the pickers, but to the growers, as the
vines
can stunt or kill the plants or "bind up" the growth.


~~~

You're right. My dad picked his family's own cotton. Which means he had to
get rid of the weeds in the rows.

Bamboo is invasive down here, too. Also not native.

Tumbleweeds probably wouldn't grow here, because it is so verdent and green,
except in winter. But even then there's something dormant holding the soil
together.

Karen
www.badchair.net


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 9:48:00 AM Central Standard Time,
sylgt04@... writes:

What are moonflowers? I've never heard of them.

~~~
This is a link to some. They're very large white flowers that bloom at
night. They look like morning glories, but much bigger. Not as sturdy as
morning glories, either.



_http://thesapphirecat.iwarp.com/dreamtree/moon.html_
(http://thesapphirecat.iwarp.com/dreamtree/moon.html)

Karen
www.badchair.net


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Bartels

>What are moonflowers? I've never heard of them.
>
>~~~
>This is a link to some. They're very large white flowers that bloom at
>night. They look like morning glories, but much bigger. Not as sturdy as
>morning glories, either.
>
they're supposed to be really fragrant too and grow a bit taller than
morning glories. i just planted a bunch around the ugly cables running
to the utility pole in our front yard. they're not doing much right now
due to the friggin SNOW! (i live in IL...this is a bit ridiculous for
may!) but i have high hopes for them and my morning glories and sweet
peas and hollyhocks and johnny jump ups and dianthus and
sunflowers...ooo, i'm getting too excited thinking of their gorgeous
blooms to come...

dreaming in frigid-ville...
lisa

Gwen McCrea

Having grown up in northern climes, I was surprised to realize that
morning glories can be weeds! They always come back from seed here (in
Minnesota), but I've never seen them really take over, maybe because
the growing season is so short, or because I don't get out enough <g>

We just came back from 7 weeks in Bolivia visiting my husband's
family. Walking in the area around town, where people have their plots
planted with corn, I saw morning glories growing up the corn VERY
profusely. Sure was pretty, tho I imagine a pain for the farmers. Lots
of the fields had already been harvested, however, and folks just left
the stalks with the morning glories on them.

Gwen,
who is dreaming of all the red flowers we will plant to attract
hummingbirds this summer, while sitting at the kitchen table doing her
best to ignore the cold and flurries (!) right outside the window.

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 10:50:20 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
tuckervill2@... writes:


-=-What are moonflowers? I've never heard of them.

~~~
-=-This is a link to some. They're very large white flowers that bloom at
night. They look like morning glories, but much bigger. Not as sturdy as
morning glories, either.-=-

After Karen mentioned them, I resolved to go and buy some seeds.
In the 60's and 70's, there used to be a common packet of seeds that had two
or three kinds of morning glories, and moonflower. And it seemed that each
pack had 20 or 30 morning glory seeds and one or two moonflower seeds (which
were bigger).

My sister had one come up, but mine never did that I know of.

For a while, ten years or so back, I had Heavenly Blues, a particular strain
of fancy morningglories. The blooms are a little bigger, and the seeds are
distinctive, and I used to pick those separate and have given lots away.
When we moved, I thought I'd just get seeds back from someone who'd grown some,
but ended up never getting it together to do that.

Unless you plant them new and keep the seeds separate and gather heavenly
blues separate, they merge back into the various shades of pink and purple, it
seems.

There are some little wild morning glories here and the flowers are pale
blue and small, and the vines are more dry and smaller, but I've never tried to
gather seeds from them even though they come up in my yard sometimes.

Sandra









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[email protected]

-----Original Message-----
From: SandraDodd@...


The morning glory and sunflower combo sounds pretty cool! We have a
new
stand of bamboo we liberated from where a dumpster was being build last
year
(turned out it was for a new school being built out of an old warehouse
grocery

store). I put sunflowers in front of it, figuring if the sunflowers
want to
hang too far over the driveway that I could tie them to the bamboo.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Add moonflowers to that scene, and you have quite a pretty
picture---all day long!

~Kelly

The Bartels

>Having grown up in northern climes, I was surprised to realize that
>morning glories can be weeds! They always come back from seed here (in
>Minnesota), but I've never seen them really take over, maybe because
>the growing season is so short, or because I don't get out enough <g>
>
now, is there a difference between bindweed and morning glories? i
think perhaps they're from the same family, but not the same thing?
when we visited our favorite ecovillage in MO for the first time, i hung
out a lot with their gardener guy and i'll never forget the way he just
FREAKED out when one of the interns had found a patch of bindweed coming
out in some veggies. apparently, if you pull them it only makes them
come back stronger. and you can't just throw 'em on the compost pile
either as they'll just go nuts and contaminate your next garden anyhow!
so they went fast, abandoned the rest of their work and attacked them!
i think they dug them out carefully and then burned them!

pretty severe stuff for such slow, peaceful folks... ;)
-lisa

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 1:26:34 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
sandrewmama@... writes:

Can morning glories grow in shady conditions? We have a
huge tree in our backyard under which grass can't grow (not enough
sun or water) but if the morning glories were happy in shade I'd
water them as needed and let them climb up our tree.



-=-Can morning glories grow in shady conditions? We have a
huge tree in our backyard under which grass can't grow (not enough
sun or water) but if the morning glories were happy in shade I'd
water them as needed and let them climb up our tree.
-=-

I'm not sure, but if you get some and they don't grow, I'll send you a tape
or some Thinking Sticks or a refund. And if they DO grow in serious shade,
then that news can be added to the webpage!

Sandra


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sylvia Toyama

This is a link to some. They're very large white flowers that bloom at night. They look like morning glories, but much bigger. Not as sturdy as morning glories, either.

*****

They're beautiful!

Sylvia

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Marjorie Kirk

Just a quick tip for growing moonflowers: You get a much better germination
rate if you nick each seed with a sharp knife, or cut a small corner of the
hard outer shell off, then put them in a damp paper towel for a few days
before planting. They are also very cool to watch bloom. They open in the
evenings over a period of 20-30 minutes!

Marjorie

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 2:06:14 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
ecotopian@... writes:

apparently, if you pull them it only makes them
come back stronger.


=-----------------

There's another thing that makes no sense.

Some people will practically freak out if people pull a deep-root weed out
and don't get ALL of the roots. We have two things growing that grow from
roots here, vinka (sp?) and mint. If we really wanted to get rid of it we'd
have to dig it out. But if we just want to discourage it, pulling it would be
discouraging.

Sometimes people just love to overreact, I think. The same people who freak
out because you picked flowers or didn't water enough or disturbed something
they DO want growing will freak out just as bad if you "just" pull
dandelions out before the flowers go to seed, saying that won't kill the plant.
Well... it will keep the seeds from maturing. That's something.

-=- and you can't just throw 'em on the compost pile
either as they'll just go nuts and contaminate your next garden anyhow!
-=-

Well, there is that, maybe. But they shouldn't be using compost that's less
than a year old anyway, if they don't want seeds from the year before.
Seeds will sprout and then the plants will die in the compost, or they will rot
(if the compost is kept wet enough).

Sounds like the going nuts was on the part of the people who were losing con
trol of their garden. All that advice to thin plants and to plant them 3/8"
deep (not 1/4 and not 1/2") seems to me to be over-controlling behavior. <G>

Sandra



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

get a much better germination
rate if you nick each seed with a sharp knife, or cut a small corner of the
hard outer shell off, then put them in a damp paper towel for a few days
before planting.


"Better" or just quicker?

Extending what I've learned as a mom to other biological areas of the world,
I don't think faster is always better, nor that nicking parts off is the way
to go. Too many people my age had too many parts nicked off of them. It
seems that seeds would really have the knowledge and ability to become the
plant they need to be without people messing with them.

I used to soak morning glory seeds or put them in wet paper towels (which,
in New Mexico, don't stay wet unless you put all that in a plastic bag), but I
figured out that the seeds probably really would rather be in wet DIRT, not
in wet paper towel in a baggie on the counter. So I just started planting
them earlier and watering them more.

Sandra

Sandra


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

nellebelle

>>>>>>>he just FREAKED out when one of the interns had found a patch of bindweed coming
out in some veggies. apparently, if you pull them it only makes them
come back stronger. and you can't just throw 'em on the compost pile
either as they'll just go nuts and contaminate your next garden anyhow!>>>>>>>>

When I had the huge patch of tumbleweeds (Russian Thistle) I was told that same thing. Don't pull them because where you pull one, several more will come up. That apparently is not true, because every year I've had fewer and fewer. The trick is to grab the plant just above the dirt and pull slowly so as to get all or most of the tap root out. It is easisest when the plant is smaller and is not an unpleasant task if the weather is not too hot. It is rather satisfying when the entire root comes up in once piece. With larger plants, it helps to use a garden fork or spade to loosen the soil. Tumbleweed seedlings are quite easy to identify because of the red coloring. As Sandra Dodd wrote, "Most of that red stem/root was under the ground, but as they grow the stem is red at first, when they do start stretching up. There's nothing the least bit red later on." Sandra Dodd, "Tumbleweeds," n.d., <http://sandradodd.com/tumbleweeds> (2 May 2005)

I tried to cite my reference properly this time. <G> I referred to this webpage: http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/history/benjamin/content/page74.htm

Today is the first day that I wondered how to footnote a webpage. Funny how one thing leads to another...

Mary Ellen

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 3:04:24 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
nellebelle@... writes:

-=-When I had the huge patch of tumbleweeds (Russian Thistle) I was told
that same thing. Don't pull them because where you pull one, several more will
come up. -=-






I think that's up there with cut your hair to make it grow. Unadulterated
bullshit.

We were told that kind of things about cholla cactus too, but it just simply
makes NO sense whatsoever. Whether you cut it, pull it, shove it over,
stack it to rot or burn it, it's being severely discouraged. <g>

-=-That apparently is not true, because every year I've had fewer and fewer.
The trick is to grab the plant just above the dirt and pull slowly so as to
get all or most of the tap root out. -=-

The roots just rot in the ground as far as I know. The seed makes the whole
plant. They're not annuals, in other words, and always come up from seeds.

-=-As Sandra Dodd wrote, "Most of that red stem/root was under the ground,
but as they grow the stem is red at first, when they do start stretching up.
There's nothing the least bit red later on." Sandra Dodd, "Tumbleweeds,"
n.d., <http://sandradodd.com/tumbleweeds> (2 May 2005)
=-

OH I'm in HEAVEN!
I'll have footnote wetdreams.

Sandra


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Marjorie Kirk

get a much better germination
rate if you nick each seed with a sharp knife, or cut a small corner of the
hard outer shell off, then put them in a damp paper towel for a few days
before planting.


"Better" or just quicker?

********************************************************************

Better, in my case. The ones I tried growing without nicking only had about
a 50% germination rate, the nicked ones all grew. I watered all of them the
same, since I start them in flats inside. All of the veggies, annuals and
perennials get checked and watered, if needed, daily.

YMMV,
Marjorie

Jordan

I don�t have a clue about whether tumbelweed would grow, but morning glories
are WILD here! There is lots of small-scale subsistence farming on our
island, and from what I can tell, folks have found ways to keep the morning
glories in check. They grow around the little plots of veggies and sugar
cane, draped over the fences, climbing the utility poles, in the
ditches�everywhere. I never see anyone cutting them down or otherwise
discouraging them to grow. Perhaps they are a special Japanese variety and
feel somehow compelled to obey the rules?

Its amazing to me though, the things that grow wild here�things people drive
themselves crazy over in the states, and pay loads of money to start in the
first place. Easter Lillies-- white and other colors��tropical plants�,
even some orchids. It,s beautiful.

We have 3 huge potted tropical-type plants on our patio and they get
completely stripped of foliage every time we have a typhoon�sometimes 3 a
month�and for 2 years now, they have always come back. When I think of all
the digging my kids do in the pots and the odd stuff they toss in there,
�for the plants to eat� I really can�t believe the things are alive at all.
It sometimes makes me wish for a yard�we have large balcony/patio things on
two levels that wrap 3/4 around the house on two levels, but nothing else.
Oh well�bikes, scooters, and trucks grow well out there, and we often get a
good crop of sidewalk chalk drawings!

Tami (who at this time of the year is craving the scent of Lilacs.)

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of
SandraDodd@...
Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 10:43 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion] two new pages/morning glories


In a message dated 5/2/2005 7:08:29 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
tuckervill2@... writes:

I've probably told you this before, Sandra. My dad hates morning
glories,
as do most of the old folks we know. They grow wild in the cotton fields
and
are a menace to those who had to pick cotton by hand. They're considered
invasive weeds.


OH YEAH!
I forgot to mention that.

My dad used to get a farming magazine, and every issue had advertisements
for stuff that would kill "bindweed" and had beautiful photos of healthy
morning glories. <g>

I'll put your reminder in there. And it's true, if people live right next
to (or are engaged in) commercial farming, I'm selling them weeds. Bummer.
Still, it's not as crazy as shipping a tumbleweed, which is the seeds of
thousands of its kind. I don't think tumbleweeds will grow in the eastern
or
southern U.S., and I HOPE NOT now that people have made it their business
to
mail them around. I hope they won't grow in Japan.

Sandra


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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[email protected]

In a message dated 5/2/2005 6:14:11 PM Central Standard Time,
atj090@... writes:

I don’t have a clue about whether tumbelweed would grow, but morning glories
are WILD here! There is lots of small-scale subsistence farming on our
island, and from what I can tell, folks have found ways to keep the morning
glories in check. They grow around the little plots of veggies and sugar
cane, draped over the fences, climbing the utility poles, in the
ditches—everywhere. I never see anyone cutting them down or otherwise
discouraging them to grow. Perhaps they are a special Japanese variety and
feel somehow compelled to obey the rules?




~~~
lol. It seems to me that Japan must get much more rain than Albq., as does
Arkansas, and that's what makes morning glories a weed. But we don't get as
much rain as the Pacific Northwest, where I've been told they think English
Ivy is an invasive weed and not to be planted. I've always wanted a an oak
covered in English Ivy, but it has never happened for me in Arkansas. (need
more deep shade and fewer hot summers)

Just a little lesson in biodiversity, I guess.

Karen

www.badchair.net


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/3/2005 6:29:29 AM Mountain Daylight Time,
tuckervill2@... writes:

I've always wanted a an oak
covered in English Ivy, but it has never happened for me in Arkansas.
(need
more deep shade and fewer hot summers)



----------------

We don't have big oak trees (little scrub-oak in the mountains, kinda
scrawny bushes that make little acorns and turn red in fall), but I did have ivy
nearly kill a tree we have by choking it off, and it's going up another tree
now. It's beautiful on the tree, and I don't know when to decide to chop it
back. It's an Arizona cypress making a big shade in our front yard, and the
ivy is six feet up or so, but not wrapped all around it.

Sandra


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/3/2005 7:47:33 AM Central Standard Time,
SandraDodd@... writes:

It's beautiful on the tree, and I don't know when to decide to chop it
back. It's an Arizona cypress making a big shade in our front yard, and
the
ivy is six feet up or so, but not wrapped all around it.



~~~

More water would probably wrap it all around the tree. Maybe not in Albq.
(can you tell I can't remember how to spell it?), but around here we can cut
vines during the growing season with abandon and they will make themselves new
again in a matter of days. The honeysuckle on the fence was cut from 12'
across all the way to the ground in February (it hadn't even gone completely
dormant), and now it has filled up all of a 4 feet section of fence and half way
through the 4' sections on either side. I go out every day and pull
tendrils away from the hostas growing in its shade.

Karen

www.badchair.net


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

Field Bindweed is a member of the morning glory family, as are those Heavenly
Blue morning glories, and sweet potatoes.

Morning Glories are annuals in most of the US - they grow from seed each year
and won't overwinter. Field Bindweed is a perenial, storing 2 to 3 years
worth of food in an extensive underground root network. It can regrow from very
small pieces of root left behind after cultivation. Like morning glory, bindweed
is a vining plant, twining around whatever it encounters on it's way upward
to the sky.

Field bindweed flowers start out white and turn pink. They look like morning
glory flowers but are usually smaller. The leaves are narrower than morning
glory leaves, more of an arrowhead shape than a heart shape.

Deborah - granddaughter of farmers *and* gardeners :)


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/5/2005 12:51:58 AM Central Standard Time,
DACunefare@... writes:

Field Bindweed is a member of the morning glory family, as are those
Heavenly
Blue morning glories, and sweet potatoes.




~~~

I'd never heard of bindweed until this conversation. When you described
the pink flowers and leaves I realize I have seen them before, though. Thanks
for the education, Deb!

Karen

www.badchair.net


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 5/4/2005 11:51:45 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
DACunefare@... writes:

Field bindweed flowers start out white and turn pink. They look like morning

glory flowers but are usually smaller. The leaves are narrower than morning
glory leaves, more of an arrowhead shape than a heart shape.


Then those are the little "wild morningglories" that are in my yard too.
AHA!
Thanks!!

Now I can advertise "not bindweed" instead of thinking I was selling noxious
weeds.
They're only potentially-irritating cousins of noxious weeds.

Sandra


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