Seeking IDs of three invaders

[Charles Packer]

Today I'm curious about three plants on my District of Columbia property, where my only gardening implements since I bought my house have been shears, clippers and saws.

vine seems to be blooming early this year. Both my wife and I enjoy the fragrant flowers. The leaves are heart-shaped and a little shiny -- I think that's what made the bluish areas in my digital photo.

vine is mixed in with the first. I like the subtle colors of the berries.

invade a flower bed in which my wife has tried to impose more structure -- when she has time. Hey, it's her problem.

-- | [e-mail] (Charles Packer)

[Iris Cohen]

Not sure of #1. The berries on #2 look like porcelain berry, but the leaves are wrong. It is in the Vitaceae.

#3 is probably lily of the valley. It is very invasive. Iris, Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40 "If we see light at the end of the tunnel, It's the light of the oncoming train." Robert Lowell (1917-1977)

[kathy]

Charles Packer had this to say...: : Today I'm curious about three plants on my District of Columbia : property, where my only gardening implements since I bought my : house have been shears, clippers and saws.

:

like Virgin's Bower - Clematis virginiana - a sort of weedy native Clematis.

: This vine seems to be blooming early this year. Both my wife and : I enjoy the fragrant flowers. The leaves are heart-shaped and a : little shiny -- I think that's what made the bluish areas in my : digital photo.

:

This vine is mixed in with the first. I like the subtle colors : of the berries.

It's a grape. Vitis sp. - maybe someone can come up with the species.

:

These invade a flower bed in which my wife has tried to impose : more structure -- when she has time. Hey, it's her problem.

?? Looks sort of like Lily of the Valley. Have they ever flowered?

: -- | : [e-mail] (Charles Packer) :

[Pam - gardengal]

Kathy is spot on - Clematis virginiana, wild grape and lily of the valley (Convallaria). There are a few species of wild grape, but most are considered to be somewhat weedy pests (although the birds love 'em).

- gardengal

[David J Bockman]

# 1. appears to be Clematis terniflora, aka Sweet Autumn clematis.

#2. appears to be Ampelopsis brevipedunculata, aka Porcelainberry Vine (get some hail damage out your way?)

#3. appears to be Convallaria majalis, aka Lily-of-the-Valley.

Dave in Fairfax

[Garrapata]

We have trouble trying to grow Lily-of-the-Valley here, I would like to have all of these :-))

[Charles Packer]

Yes, they bore small white flowers earlier in the year, as I recall. They figure in the only amusing moment during a meeting with the city yard inspector. He had tersely cited my "whole yard" for excessive vegetation, so I asked him to visit and be more specific.

If something didn't look "cultivated," he didn't like it. The abundant clematis and wild grape overhanging a retaining wall next to the alley, needless to say, drew his particular ire. Yards must be NEAT, he blustered, and later gestured toward my wife's half-defunct flowerbed filled with lily-of-the-valley as a paragon of good landscaping.

[Ron Hardin]

Yard inspector? What next.

He'd like my yard, a mixture of grasses recently scythed, with hayfield-like windrow trails seven feet apart.

What to do with the windrow trails the next time you scythe is the problem at the moment. If you scythe at right angles, they're swept up into new windrow trails but with twice the content, old plus new.

I need a goat or something.

I was thinking of constructing a haystack in the driveway.

[Garrapata]

"Yard Inspector"??? What city is this, I want to avoid even the slightest possibility of ever moving there.