Green mulch

Representative of the general condition of the neglected flowerbeds in the front yard, here is my bed of shame. These are all native vines... Carolina jessamine, grapevine, Virginia creeper... the victory of clearing them out of the beds is bittersweet because they are native and natural, but they have no restraint.

Here are the few square yards I have cleared from the vines and replaced the green mulch with pine straw and pine bark. What was green is now brown. Soon my yard will look like every other yard in the neighborhood.

The suggestible and redirectible passionflower vine. This is a hybrid magnificent purple reaching from a trellis to a large sasanqua camellia. Very well behaved.

I have three passionflower vines growing in my garden-- the large exotic smelly purple, the native blue that grows on Payne's Prairie, and this little red, Lady Margaret.