You Can't Keep a Good Vine Down

Today I saw a sign of life in the lifeless sticks left by my coral vine. I wasn't the least bit surprised, though. This is one tough vine.

Every plant in a garden has its own story. My coral vine has a long one. It started over ten years ago when I bought a little vine at my local nursery. I didn't know anything about it, but I planted it in front of the porch of my old house. Over the next few years it covered the front porch, and the bees just loved it.

Hurricane Ivan blew through, and while the house still stood (although thoroughly flooded), my garden was destroyed. The next year the coral vine came back and flowered again.

Because our house had been ruined, we chose to have it demolished and to build a house ten feet higher. I was attached to what little remained of my former garden, and kept the survivors in pots near the FEMA camper we lived in (for almost two years). The coral vine had dug itself in pretty deep and I couldn't remove it myself, so when they were scheduled to demolish our house, the last thing I asked my husband to do when I left for work was to dig up that vine for me.

I came home from work, and the house was gone. My husband apologized about my vine, and told me that he tried to dig it up, but it was too close to the foundation of the house, and he just couldn't manage it. I walked up to where the front porch had been, and all that was left of my poor vine was a ragged stump. He told me it was useless to try to save it now, but I dug up what was left of it, and dumped it into a container.

The next summer it not only started growing, but grew so big we had to create a makeshift trellis for it to climb on while we waited for our new house to be built. After I was sure that the workmen were gone for good, and no one would trample my plants, I started my new garden and planted my coral vine. By the next year, it had already climbed up the pilings and covered our new porch. You just have to love a vine that works that hard to keep going.