Baby Chinquapins (updated 5/27)

Back at the end of March, I received a packet of Ozark Chinquapin nuts in the mail from the Ozark Chinquapin Foundation.  This post tells about the process of planting those little sprouted nuts.

On April 6, I made this note:

Something tore into both of my cages in the Barber field and ate the chinquapin nuts.  :(  I could still see the shoot on one of them, but without the nut, I don't know if it will survive.  No sign of any of the remaining four but at least it doesn't look like anything has been digging in those cages.

Then on April 10, this exciting note:

The "south" chinquapin in my yard has come up!  I drove a t-post in the ground beside it and put up a tall cage to protect it from deer browsing.

Baby Ozark Chinquapin on April 10, 2023.

And surprise of all surprises, a few days later when I walked down to the Barber field to check on the chinquapins there, I discovered that one of them had come up, even after having had its little nut stolen.  Later though, when I walked down to check on it again, it was gone, but the other one had since come up!

There's no sign of any of the other three.

.

Baby Ozark Chinquapin on May 6, 2023.

Before the little plant in the Barber field gets much bigger, it needs a cage to protect it from the deer.  I have bought some hardware cloth and plan to build a cage out of that.

Lessons learned for next time (and I hope there is a next time, since I have already paid my 2023 membership dues for OCF):  

• In areas like the Barber field where there is high potential for the nut to be stolen, be sure to put a very secure cage around the nut at the time it is planted.  The cage probably needs to be buried a few inches into the ground around the nut to try to deter anything from digging under.
  
  
• In areas where the ground is extremely rocky like the area behind the barn, try to break up the rocks in the planting hole so the nut's taproot has an easier path down deeper into the soil.
  
  
• If the nuts come pre-sprouted, handle them very, very carefully!  The taproot on the last nut was broken about an inch from the end.  I'm not sure if it was broken in the mail, or if I broke it when I was getting another nut out of the package. 

I still hope that the nuts behind the barn will sprout eventually, since I seem to remember that in a video of a tour of one of the test plots Steve Bost mentioned that the nuts there had sprouted over an extended period of time, not all in the same general timeframe.

As of now, I have had a 50% success rate in nuts coming up.  I hope that I can do better if I get another chance.

Update:  On or around Wednesday, May 17, I was shocked and delighted to discover that the second chinquapin planted in my yard had come up -- it was the one with the broken taproot!  It may not survive, but at least it's trying! 

The second baby Ozark Chinquapin planted in my yard has come up!

Update:  This afternoon (May 24) RAF, Mo and I walked down to the Barber woods to water the Ozark Chinquapin there.  It has died.  

Update: This morning (May 27) I carried some water to the little tree with the broken taproot.  It looks like something dug it up and ate the nut.  It is dead.

May 8, 2023 Gardening Journal

I woke up Saturday morning to the sound of rain dripping on the window air conditioner.  I don't think it rained very much, but it was misty, damp and chilly still when I got up.

I had a long list of things I wanted to get done this weekend, and with the temperatures expected to be near 90° F, I got busy early to try to take advantage of the cooler temperatures while they lasted.

At the top of my list was to find homes for all of the seedlings that were left over sitting in pots on the back step.  They all look pitiful because they were so pot bound and I just couldn't keep them watered.  I doubt they'll ever amount to anything because they are in such bad shape, but I figured I'd just pop them into the Hügelkulture row and let them do what they're going to do.

So after finishing my morning Bermuda grass patrol, I planted the last of the Rutgers tomatoes, the Cherokee Purple tomatoes and the San Marzano tomatoes on the sides of the Hügelkultre mound.

Tomatoes planted along the side of the Hügelkulture row.

I decided to try the cherry tomatoes in the Ruth Stout/Charles Dowding bed.  To plant them, I just pulled the hay back to expose the cardboard underneath, laid the plants on their side, covered the roots and the stems with some of rotted cow manure, then piled hay back on top.  

Cherry tomatoes planted in the Ruth Stout/Charles Dowding bed.

I also decided to put all of my remaining seedlings in that bed.  I had one Poblano pepper, two little pots with squash plants (white patty pan?), and one little pot with Blue Hubbard squash.  They were all planted in the same way as the cherry tomatoes...no dig!

Funny thing about planting in that bed...the other day when I was searching for all of the potatoes that haven't yet come up, I uncovered a little snake.  "Oh!" I exclaimed, "I'm so sorry!"  I quickly dropped the hay back down over him and left him alone.  But when I was planting the cherry tomatoes today and was reaching out for some extra hay to put over them, I uncovered him again!  He was still in that same spot, so that must be his little "home."  Not sure what kind of snake, but I welcome him to the garden so long as he leaves my toads alone!

Once the pots were all cleared off of the back steps, I decided to go ahead and plant one of the Narrowleaf False Dragonhead (Physostegia angustifolia) plants.  This is another beauty that I found in the Barber field several years ago, and I've wanted one ever since.

Narrowleaf False Dragonhead (Physostegia angustifolia) observed on June 19, 2019 in the Barber Field.

I have two of them - one is a rooted cutting, but the other was a bit of rhizome that I stole from the field.  I wasn't sure the cutting was quite ready to go outside, so I just moved it into a larger pot.  But the one started from the rhizome?  My goodness did it have some nice looking roots!  I planted it in "the mud hole" with my other wildflowers that like to have their feet wet.  Unfortunately, there's been a rabbit or deer or groundhog out there and some of the plants growing out there have been nibbled back.  So to try to make sure this little plant gets a fair shot, I put cardboard around it to try to suppress the Bermuda grass a bit, and I put a cage around and over it to try to keep it from being eaten.   I think at some point it will be big enough that I can safely remove the cage, but until then, it's kind of like I've put it in a plant "zoo."

Narrowleaf False Dragonhead, caged up to try to protect it from critters.

Next on my list was to get some more beans planted.  It was about that time that the sun finally broke through the clouds.  It was only 74° F, but the humidity and dewpoint was crazy!  In no time at all I was dripping sweat.

But I went ahead and planted some lima beans and some improved pinto (horticulture beans).  I used my grass shears to cut down the little winter annuals that were finishing up (the henbit, the red deadnettle, etc.) and just put it along the sides of the rows as mulch.  Then I used my hand scratcher to scratch a trench about 1/2" deep down the middle of the row, put in the beans, cover them back up, and water them in...done.

Thorogreen Lima beans.

I have to be careful cutting down the winter annuals though.  Twice now I've discovered little caterpillars feeding on them!  So I'm trying to be really careful not to cut down anything that has caterpillars on it.

Caterpillar of the Variegated Fritillary (Euptoieta claudia), feeding on American Field Pansy (Viola rafinesquei).

I moved some of the Amaranth from the main garden out into the east bed, and set out the Rosemary cuttings that I had rooted from some herbs I bought in the produce section at the grocery store.  I also set out the last Green Tomatillo plant and the little parsley seedlings in that bed.

I've not had much luck with my Nasturtiums or my marigolds again, so I planted a few more seeds here and there just to see if they'll do anything.  I hope they do.   

I also threw the last of my Maryland Senna (Senna Marilandica) seeds on the ground in a couple of places and kind of scratched them into the dirt in the hope that they'll go ahead and sprout.  I tried starting them indoors and tried some in a milk jug outside, but had zero luck with either method.  

Maryland Senna (Senna marilandica) observed August 2, 2015.

I had started some Hollyhocks in pots, and decided to just set them out today too.  So they've gone in the back yard by the new fence.  They won't bloom this year, but if they can survive the winter, they should be really pretty there next summer.

In the last part of the afternoon, I spent some time pulling grass out of the irises in the back yard, and cutting some of the tall grass around the hazelnuts.  The grass makes a good mulch to go around the young trees in that part of the yard, so that should help keep them from drying out so bad this summer.

Oh...and speaking of things drying out.  RAF helped me unload my IBC tote Friday evening and I got it set up beside the first one.  I thought I might be able to connect it to my rain barrels and fill it like I did the first one, but there just wasn't enough water pressure to push the water all the way up over the top of the tote.  I've ordered the fitting I need but it won't be here until Friday, May 12.

On Sunday, I had two projects I wanted to get done.  The first one was pretty easy...drive a couple of T-posts and tie up another cattle panel so that the cantaloupes will have something to climb on.  

Cattle panel trellis, ready for the cantaloupes.

I grew some on a cattle panel many, many years ago, and it worked.  I'm thinking it's a good way to save horizontal space, but also to keep the cantaloupes up off the ground and away from critters.

After the panel was up, I brought some of the rotted cow manure and used it in the planting holes for the cantaloups.  I also top-dressed the cucumbers.  I'm not sure if they really needed that or not, but it seemed like a good thing to do.

Straight 8 cucumbers.  The first three hills were seeds I had bought.  I had put three or four seeds in the individual cells of a six-pack, but only one germinated in each cell.  The last bunch, on the other hand, were some seeds I had saved, and I think every one of them came up.

The second project was much more involved and took me a good while.  I had promised my youngest daughter that we would build a nice little concrete slab to hold the headstone she bought for her precious kitty, Soldier.   I started out by building a form out of 2"x6" scraps, with one 2"x4" scrap for the front.  My plan was to have the stone slope down slightly.

The form, set down in the dirt and all level, ready for concrete.

Once I had the form set, I started mixing some concrete, a little bit at a time.  After the bottom of the form was filled, I put in some old fence wire scraps, just because I thought the wire might help keep the slab from cracking.  I'm not sure it would anyway because it's so small, but I figured the wire wouldn't hurt anything.

A bit of wire to reinforce the slab.

When I got the form filled to the top, I tamped the concrete down, and tried to smooth it off as best I could.  I then carefully placed the little headstone in the center.  This was the tricky part, because I had gotten the concrete a bit too wet there at the end, and it was trying to sag down the form. 

The finished slab.

I wasn't unhappy with how it turned out.

Since there was still plenty of daylight left, I decided to work on another project...the raised bed around the cellar.  I've gotten part of it finished and even have some things growing in it.

Strawberries and snow peas from the raised bed around the cellar.

But the back part is still a big gaping hole.  I need to get it finished so I can start filling it and have it ready for new strawberry plants that I plan to relocate from the runners that put out in the current bed.

So I hammered in another support stake (very crooked, it was too!), and using the "Bessie" clamps, pulled the warped board up to the stake and screwed it in place.  But after I got that board fastened, I decided that I really needed something on the end where the rock steps are.  I found some 2"x6" scraps and was able to start boxing in the end with one of those.  Next, I measured for the top board, cut the 2"x8" to length, clamped it with the Bessie clamps and screwed it in place.  Last step was to put the last end piece on.

Making progress!

There are still some gaps that need to be filled on that end but other than that, I think that end is done, and just ready to be filled.  This end is where the bumblebee was...however, I've not seen any sign of her since the day I put up the cardboard.  I hope I didn't scare her away.

This afternoon, RAF helped me remove the forms from Soldier's headstone, and then I brought in some good dirt from the garden and planted flowers.

Flowers for Soldier:  Dwarf bachelor buttons; Forget-me-not; Sweet alyssum; and Alaska nasturtium.

I think it turned out very nice - I told my daughter that I wanted it to be something she would be proud of, and I think she will be.

The finished headstone.

I am going to build a bench of some sort under the green ash tree.  I told my daughter that it really is just a peaceful place there in that little grove of trees - the green ash; a catalpa; a pecan; a hackberry; and two of my little pawpaw trees.   I guess this is turning into our official pet cemetery, because Toby is buried just to the south of Soldier, and Zelda is to the west.

Once that project was finished, I decided to go ahead and set a post for the new weather station I ordered.  I am always having to ask someone how much rain we got, or what the low or high temperature was, and I just finally said, "Enough!" and bought my own.  I'm not sure when it will be here, but the post is ready for it when it does get here.

A treated 4"x4" post set into the ground behind the cellar will hold the new weather station.

I didn't have quite enough concrete mix to fill the hole, so I just packed the red clay that came out of the hole back in around the post once I ran out of the concrete.  I'm sure it will be fine.  That clay is very dense and packed in the hole almost like a brick!

Another view of the post.

I've started gathering up some flat rocks from the field, with the plan to make a "patio" kind of spot at the back of the cellar...so the rock steps will lead up to a rock patio, giving me a way to more easily get up to the top to work in the raised beds.  4' wide beds are nice, except when you can only stand on one side of them, you really can't reach all the way across! 

As I was putting all of the tools away, I happened to notice that the Kentucky Wonder beans are starting to come up inside the wigwams.  

Kentucky Wonder beans coming up.

So there's my next project...cut some pieces of chicken wire to fasten around the outside of the wigwams so the rabbits won't eat my beans!

May 4, 2023 Gardening Journal

For two years I've tried growing my pole beans in a modified "Three Sisters" method, but with only two sisters (the beans and the corn).  I haven't interplanted the beans with the corn, instead, always planting the beans after the corn has been harvested (or after it was obvious it wasn't going to make anything).

Kentucky Wonder pole beans planted to grow up corn stalks in late summer 2022.

What I learned is that while the beans do grow up the corn stalks, as they approach the tops of the stalks, they get so heavy that they actually cause the stalks to break, and I end up with a big jumbled mess.

Another two sisters "fail" from late summer 2022.

I didn't want to do that again, so I decided that I'd try to grow them up on some type of structure this year.  Lots of gardeners use bamboo canes to support plants, and it occurred to me that there are loads of bamboo canes growing along the edge of my dad's hay field down by the creek that I could have for free - all I needed to do was go get them.  (I didn't ask my dad, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind since they are always trying to encroch on his hay anyway!)

So on Sunday afternoon, I drove down to the creek and parked by the gate.  I walked around the edge of the field with my loppers to the east side where the bamboo was growing and cut myself a nice pile of canes.  

Mo and I then went ahead and walked through the woods because I wanted to try to get some cuttings from Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica); False Indigo (Amorpha fruticosa); Shrubby St. John's Wort (Hypericum prolificum); Northern Spicebush (Lindera benzoin); and Wild Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens).  The only one we didn't find was the hydrangea - it may have been washed away by flood waters or buried under several inches of sand and silt.  (The cuttings will make a good topic for a post of their own.)

My thought was that I would pick up the canes on my way back and just drag them to the truck.  But as it turns out that was a very optimistic (and stupid) thought...there was just no way I was going to be able to drag them that far!  The bundle was way, way too heavy for me!  I ended up stripping the leaves off of all of them leaving just the canes.  I was able to carry those back to the truck, although for the last hundred feet or so, I had to keep telling myself, "You can make it!  You can make it!" while at the same time my body was saying back, "I'm not sure you're going to make it...."  But I did make it.  I heaved the canes over the tailgate into the bed of the truck and headed home.

My 31 bamboo canes...31 because apparently I lost track of how many I had cut and didn't end up with a multiple of five!

Monday afternoon after I got off work, I took a hammer and using an old metal spike of some sort (something I discovered in the yard with my metal detector) I made some holes in the west part of the garden, then stuck the bamboo canes down in the holes to build six "wigwam" structures.  They're not the best looking supports in the world, but I bet by the time they get covered with beans, they're going to look just beautiful!

My bamboo wigwams.

I got out in the garden early Wednesday morning and planted Kentucky Wonder pole beans inside the wigwam structures.  To plant, I just dug two little holes on the inside of each pole, put two seeds in each hole, covered them up and watered them in.  I don't remember how long it took the beans to come up last year, but with the nice rain we've had today and the warmer temperatures in the forecast, I am hopeful that it won't be long until I see them starting to pop up!

Over the weekend, I had decided to go ahead and extend the patch of buckwheat behind the cellar.  First thing was to dig out the rest of the Cutleaf Evening Primrose (Oenothera laciniata) that has come up everywhere in the west garden.

Cutleaf Evening Primrose, in bloom.  Need to get this out of there ASAP because the seeds can remain viable for decades.

But I got the last of the section behind the cellar cleared, and planted the rest of the buckwheat from that first package.

Buckwheat patch.

It was interesting that while I was working out there, I put  more cardboard down along the south edge of that raised bed around the cellar.  I happened to notice a big bumblebee - I'm pretty sure it was a queen Southern Plains Bumblebee (Bombus fraternus) - buzzing back and forth along the edge of the bottom board.  

Southern Plains Bumblebee, observed on October 16, 2022.

I realized that she had probably started a nest there, and when I put the cardboard down, she could no longer recognize where her nest opening was!

I quickly pulled the cardboard back from the boards a couple of inches, stepped back and in just a few seconds she was back.  She flew right to "her spot," landed on the dirt and crawled up under the board.  Now that area is filled with logs and sticks because I didn't have enough dirt to fill that bed, so it seems like she's building up in those logs that are at the bottom of the raised bed.  

I'll admit, it's a bit scary to know there is probably a bumblebee nest there, but there's just no way I would ever disturb her now!  So that area is perfect for the buckwheat.  Her daughters won't have far to go to gather pollen and nectar once it blooms!  I will try to get a picture of her or her daughters later this spring if I can.

One of the things I really enjoy is just walking through the garden and looking at everything...how much has it grown (or not grown!), are there any caterpillars on this or that, etc.   I've started making it a habit to check for sprigs of Bermuda grass anytime I am out wandering around in the garden.  Some of the cardboard I put down apparently breaks down really fast, so in my "Ruth Stout" area and along the south side of the garden, I'm already seeing sprigs of devil grass sticking up through the hay and the wood chips.  

Innocent looking little sprig of Bermuda grass...do NOT be fooled by it!

So now any time I see even a tiny shoot of Bermuda grass, I stop and push the wood chips or straw or hay out from around it, then try to pull out as much of the rhizome as I can.  I've just resigned myself to the fact that it's going to be a long-term battle keeping that stuff under control.

The tiny sprig was attached to a long white rhizome that was sneaking its way along under the hay.

Some areas are worse than others...those are spots where I didn't make any effort to dig up the Bermuda grass before I put the cardboard down.  It has punched holes in the cardboard in places, or sneaked along until it found a crack, and then the shoots eagerly "reach for the light."  I pulled a good number of them up today during lunch from just one spot by the potatoes.

Lots of sprigs.

In places where the cardboard has broken down quite a bit and the grass is aggressively pushing through, I've decided to just pull the hay or wood chips back, pull as many shoots as I can, then put down a new layer of cardboard.

A new layer of cardboard.

My hope is that if I keep the edges scalped down to the bare dirt, keep any new shoots pulled up, keep the ground covered with cardboard and hay/wood chips that eventually the stuff that's under the cardboard will just run out of energy and that will be the end of it.  We'll see how things look in a year or so from now!

Yesterday afternoon, I replanted the Golden Bantam corn...only two of the seeds that I had bought last year from the local feed store had come up.   I just dug new trenches in the same place, planted the corn, watered it in, covered each trench with a generous helping of rotted (rotting?) cow manure, then watered it in one last time.  Since the sun was shining strong today, I just left the rows uncovered so the seeds could get a germination "boost" from the black compost and water.  Once this little rainy spell is over, I plan to cover them lightly with straw or maybe some of the vetch that still needs to be cut.  Hopefully this will help keep the rows from drying out.

A little block of Golden Bantam corn.

I also replanted the Clemson Spineless okra.  Only about five or six of those seeds had come up, and the plants all looked yellow and weak. I just redug the trench and put in a generous number of seeds I had that were labeled "Pre-2020 Clemson Spineless okra."  I watered them in and covered them up with the dirt from the trench, but I don't think I'll cover that row with any compost.  I have no idea how old those seeds are, if they were some I had saved, or if they were some I bought.  I'm kicking myself now that I didn't save the seeds that were left on the stalks from last year. There would have been quite a few fresh seeds, but I didn't think I needed them so I just threw them in the compost with the old stalks.

And on Tuesday (I think it was Tuesday), the insect netting I ordered finally arrived!  I took the row cover off the broccoli and cabbage bed and replaced it with the insect netting.  It was nice to be able to actually see the plants!  They looked pretty good, I guess...cleanest looking plants I've ever had, because they weren't full of holes from cabbage moths.  But come to think of it, my kale plants that are in the asparagus bed aren't either, so maybe there just aren't any cabbage moths anymore....

Insect netting over the brassicas.

But the netting arrived just in time, I think.  I'm not sure how the plants would have fared under the row cover with the crazy hot temperatures in the forecast for the next few days.

The biggest problem is that my hoops aren't really tall enough.  I'll have to figure out something...perhaps some bamboo sticks to put them on?

My old Muck Boots that my dad gave me several years ago have pretty much had it - they've walked lots of miles.  

My good ol' Muck boots.

So today, I finally ordered some new boots.

I hope they are as good as my old boots have been.

I also decided to go ahead and buy another IBC tote to hold rain water.  Since we were in town for an appointment this afternoon anyway, we swung by the feed store and bought one.

A second IBC tote for water storage.

Unfortunately, it's still in the back of the truck because it was raining by the time we got home.  Pity that the rain didn't hold off until we got the tank unloaded and set under the drip of the roof!  

Once it's full, I'll have 720 gallons of water storage capacity.  I know that's not enough to last through a long summer drought, but it will help.

I just hope that by buying this I haven't scared the rain off for the rest of the spring and summer!!!!

 

Saving the Baldwin's Milkvine (updated 7/5)

In a post I made back in December, 2022, I talked about how I fell in love with Redring Milkweed when I first saw one in the wild.

Another one that I've loved since I first saw it is Baldwin's Milkvine (Matelea baldwyniana).

I first saw this beautiful little vine one winter as I was walking around the field.  It had a really unusual seed pod, similar to a milkweed, but with sharp little spikes all over it.  I had no idea what it was and made a note to look at it again in the spring.

When I saw it in bloom, I fell absolutely in love with the velvety soft green leaves and the delicate white flower with twisted petals.

Baldwin's Milkvine, observed on June 24, 2017

That fall, I collected some seeds and tried to start them in a pot.  The attempt was total failure.  Not a single seed sprouted.

So I waited another year, collected more seeds, and tried again.  Total failure...or so I thought.  As I was using the string trimmer around the south flower bed that next spring, I saw something in the grass and thought, "That's a Baldwin's Milkv...." just as I swung the trimmer line over it!  I was sick.  Apparently one of the seeds had floated away from me as I was planting them out on the well house, and while not a single seed in any of my pots had sprouted, the one seed that fell into the grass and stayed there all winter had managed to germinate...only to be whacked down by my weed eater!

But it grew back, and when it got big enough that I could see it, I carefully dug it up and moved it into the east flowerbed by the house.

I thought that would be a good spot.  It had good rich dirt and nice morning sun, but was shaded from the harsh afternoon sun.

Apparently that's not what Baldwin's Milkvine likes.

It grew up the support I had put in place for two years, and even bloomed, but never set any pods, and never even lasted through to the fall.  By the third year, it grew a bit, but then "died" without even flowering.  To top that off, I accidentally dug it up while digging out the septic line and didn't realize I had done so until a couple of days later.  I searched through the dirt pile and found what I thought  were probably its roots, and transplanted it again, this time over by Zelda Scissorhands' house.  

It never sprouted up again.

So I thought I would start over by collecting some seeds from the vine down in the pasture.  Only I didn't realize that when my dad had the new pipe fence put in, the workers had torn out the old fence, which is what supported the little vine.  It now had nothing to climb on, and nothing to protect it from the cattle!

I found what was left of it last fall, and put some rocks in a ring around it to try to protect it from being stepped on.  I asked my dad if he would care if I put up a cage around it, and when he didn't act like he minded, I had myself a plan.

Unfortunately, the little vine grows right by the slough, and twice this spring that area has been covered by deep rushing floodwater.  But this weekend, I finally made it down there with some T-posts, my driver, and some old wire.

Something had eaten the top out of it.  It looks very sad and pitiful.

All that's left of the Baldwin's Milkvine...a shoot about 4" tall, and one tiny new sprig about 2" tall.

I hammered in the two T-posts and carefully set the wire cage over the little vine.  The wire was the end of a roll that I found in the woods down below the barn...it was enough to go around the vine, with just a little bit of rusted and bent up wire extending into the center.

New cage.

The inner piece of wire goes right over the little vine, so if it does start to grow again, it will quickly be able to wind itself into the wire.

I don't really expect it will make seeds this year...I just hope it survives.

Update: On Tuesday, May 16, Mo and I walked down to check on the milkvine.  It had latched onto the wire in the middle of the cage just as I hoped it would, and is now about two feet long. 

The Baldwin's Milkvine is growing!

Update:  On Tuesday, June 6, I walked down to the corner of the field to check on the milkvine.  I could tell as I got closer to the cage that something was wrong.  Sure enough, the little vine was dead.  It had even tried to bloom, but something happened to it...either something broke the vine at the bottom, or it had died from the dry weather.

The dried up vine with a couple of tiny flower buds on it.  Again, so sorry for the horrible quality of the photo.  I am GOING to get myself a better phone.  I'm fed up with this one - fixed focus lens - it's worthless for taking pictures!

However, I was happy to see that there were still a few green leaves at the very bottom, so I know the plant isn't dead.  If we don't get some significant rain soon, I'm going to start walking down at least once a week to give it some water.  I'm sure now it won't bloom this year, but if I can just keep it alive it might have a chance next year.

A few green leaves at the bottom...it's still trying to survive.

Update: Yesterday (Saturday, June 24) I filled my little green watering can and walked down to check on the milkvine.  I was very happy to see that it is still alive and is growing again.  It might not have needed the water, but since we've had so little rain, I hoped it wouldn't hurt anything to give it some.  I plan to keep watering it at least once a week while we're not getting any rain.  

The little vine has put on about 18" of new growth, and is climbing up the inside piece of wire again.

Update:  This evening (Wednesday, July 5) I carried about 3 gallons of water down to the milkvine and I was again happy to see that it's still alive and has grown a bit more.

The Baldwin's Milkvine has two shoots that have grown up the wire about 30".  I thought there might be a tiny flower cluster trying to form on one of them so it will be interesting to see if it tries to bloom again.