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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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. |