Q: I am looking for a decorative perennial vine to adorn my vegetable garden trellis. Blue passion flower has been recommended. What do you think? Rusty Newport, email
A: I have personal experience with blue passionflower, Passiflora caerulea, in my garden. I will never plant it again. It is highly invasive by means of roots and seeds and is the very devil to control. A friend had a horrible skin reaction from pulling the vines. This is not the same vine as maypop, Passiflora incarnata, whose edible green fruits also make excellent ammunition for childhood “wars.” Depending on the size of your trellis, consider instead one of the compact clematis varieties, like ‘Abilene’, ‘Akita’, or one of the Boulevard series. The vines die back in winter but quickly regrow in spring.
Q: Ten years ago, I began noticing little beech trees had sprouted up everywhere throughout the woods. What causes the sprouting of the beech trees? Robbie Young, Canton
A: Much of the explanation has to do with available light. Beech seedlings grow slowly in the shade, but they really respond to increased light. Small beech trees come from either root sprouts or seed sprouts. Beneath a mature beech tree and a little farther out, you see root sprouts. If you see a young tree with no mother tree nearby, they came from seeds scattered about by animals. The light tan leaves remain on small beech trees in cold weather. A friend relates she told her young children these were ”ghost trees” that kept watch on the forest through winter.
Q: I tried growing some button mushrooms on a weathered pile of wood chips. I just buried a mushroom every 5 feet around the pile. I got thin little fragile mushrooms that didn’t look like the ones I buried. Noell Wilson, Carrollton
A: It is relatively easy to grow mushrooms at home but not the way you tried. Mushrooms arise from mycelia (white, rootlike strands) that colonize organic material like wood chips or straw or even used coffee grounds. It is an interesting process and a great wintertime experiment. You can grow oyster mushrooms in a big plastic tub in which you layer sterile media and small bits of stem from grocery store mushrooms. I don’t have space to describe the whole process, but I’ve collected links to mushroom growing guides and videos at bit.ly/GAmushroomgrow.
Walter’s email address is georgiagardener@yahoo.com. Listen to his comments at 6:35 a.m. on “Green and Growing with Ashley Frasca” Saturday mornings on 95.5 WSB. Visit his website, www.walterreeves.com, follow him on Twitter @walterreeves, on Pinterest, or join his Facebook Page at bit.ly/georgiagardener.
