11-27-2005, 10:07 AM
A cautionary vine tale: Careful what you plant and where! A few weeks ago my while my neighbors were sleeping, an 80 foot Ohia tree fell and missed their bedroom by less than a foot. The previous owners had planted a solandra vine on that tree and it just got overloaded. In my own yard I made the mistake of planting Bengal Skyflower. 1 vine had climbed 1 tree, then spread to the tops of several others. I cut it off, but of course, since its 80' up the trees, I'm stuck with all that dead vine dangling and falling until it rots off and a stump that continually sprouts back.( I don't do herbicides, but from what I've read, they don't work on this vine anyway). What a mess! Not to mention the hundreds of keikies (seed sprouts) coming up everywhere, even off my lot. I've noticed some other vines,like Monstera, on the other hand, prune themselves, climbing 20-30 feet, then snapping off. Don't pay much attention to plant labels either, the nursery tag on the skyflower said "up to 25 feet".