I got this trouble spot out by the road, our bamboo line stops at the fence and try as I might the frontage is a mess. When we first landed here it was all native grasses, bluestem and baby bluestem and its was LOVELY, but I mowed it a couple of times and killed off all the native grasses ( because I was a dummy) and only the ugly encroaching grasses grew back. Ta’suck!
So I tried tearing it all out and adding wildflowers. 
That worked great for a couple years but ( this time it wasn’t me, I swear! LOL!) grasshoppers, drought,road construction widened the road, my neighbors being neighborly and mowing my frontage for me ( isn’t that Sweet of them, they sure didn’t mean it badly) and bub-bye wildflowers. Well over the years I just let it become whatever it was to become and mowed it down when it got too ugly. Last year we grew birdhouse gourds out there and it was a wonderful sight! 
This patch was all that survived the heat and drought.
Think Think Think…That’s me thinking of something new last summer. So I decided on Jimpson Weed!!
Its a fast growing plant that needs very little water, its tall, it stinks, its poisonous, not much out there will eat it. It puts out these wonderful white giant trumpet flowers and it has a equally giant spiked glob seed pods. Drawbacks are that its hard to start initially, don’t transplant well and will die back at the first sign of cold weather (under 40 degrees F ) but it leaves it re-seeds itself onces its established. Weeee!!
We spread the seeds from this plant above all over the frontage area last fall. Knowing how hard they are to get started I went ahead and started 12 plants via seed last August on 4 inch pots to take in when the weather got cold. The plan was to nurse them through the winter indoors so the plants would be about 18 inches high and ready to transplant come spring. Just in case the seeds didn’t germinate or the weather cut them down in late spring. Well 6 pots did not take, and I foolishly thought okay, I’ll go with 6 plants then. I could use the extra room in the seed tray and buy a little time before transferring larger pots. I was hoping to not do that since these babies shock easy.
4 more got cut down one evening when it got too cold in the kitchen from the back door being bumped open leaving two. I guarded those two, putting them in the warmest spot in the kitchen and alternating time on the window sill on warm days. We have had some big snow this year, record inches for Texas in some areas including ours, well I am not going to have my last African Guinea Hen, Georgiana, sitting in the snow, so we brought her inside and she roosted on the china cabinet. Tobacco Row! LOL! 
Of course, her complaining all the time! HOOT! In the morning its still too cold out there, so she walks into the kitchen and freaks out when Dillon follows her into the small space and flies around cutting down plants with her wings, pulling plants into the sink with her claws, bouncing off the walls, finally setting in the middle of my tallest Jimpson Weed plant. Did I say they were a bit delicate as babies? Snap! Crackle! Pop! We get out the bamboo skewers, snip the broken parts off, tie up sad little plants and pour all the soil back in. Clean up Kitchen. a week goes by one is toast by the last one is hanging on!! makes it the other one is toast. Well its snowed here 5 times this winter and each time I move the last plant to a safe location, on top of the dryer, to a shelf in my bedroom, the upstairs bathtub, the refrigerator top…Each time something found it and mess with it. I threw a bag of Splenda up on top of the refrigerator to knock some leaves off myself!
*eyeroll*
But this last one managed to thrive to spite us all. 
Finally I settled our lone survivor on a beam 15 feet up that runs from our staircase to the front door. This last location was the best, the cats can’t break the leaves off rubbing up against, the plant was getting too big for the kitchen and all the other spots and its not in danger of frost because its in the warmest window. Perfect!!
No one considered Buttercup’s evil plan…
This last snow, (see Vicki’s blog. Her snow pictures look exactly like mine LOL!) in comes Georgie. She now prefers my computer desk. So when we bring her in and I knock off for the night I put away my keyboard and mouse and cover the whole thing with a large beachtowel. She sleeps there all night I wake her in the morning and if its warm enough she goes outside, if not she hangs out on my treadmill, someone should use it! LOL!
So I fixed her bed and went upstairs to watch a movie with the kids.
30 minutes in, the ruckus! Georgie is flying all over the place, and finally settles…you guessed it! In the middle of the plant on the top of the beam! Dirt everywhere, plant parts flying as she flaps for balance. I have to get the ladder to get her down and again we salvage, snip, and tie the last little bits of the last remaining plant. Why did Georgie go nuts? Well she jumped up on her beachtowel, and encountered her spot was already taken by Buttercup. G came a bit late to the party! LOL! So she disturbs the cat, who refuses to move. Georgie pitches a wing flapping fit and flying around looking for an alternate spot. Georgie’s fit scares the Poo out of Dove The Great Dane, literally. 
The bird is freaking, the dog is pooping and the phone starts ringing, its Jack he is on his way home just checking in. How are things?
Don’t come home! Click.
Get ladder. Catch bird. Clean dirt, Clean poo, Fix plant. Snip. Tie. Pray. Water plant. Check computer. A-ok. New towel, new bird food, no water this time. Hubby Home. Kiss Hubby. Point to his dinner in warmer. Grab kids. Grab Hubby. Grab Buttercup. Take upstairs. Watch Movie. BraveHeart. “Freedom!” Think of what is left of my plant. Laugh.
Hubby eats in silence. One word from him and I will tell about my day for the next 2 hours.
He is a smart man.
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Edited: February 26th, 2010
