plants: Crossvine in Fall

As fall peaks its head around the corner on the heels of some rain, some plants around the garden are going for a second round. I am particularly pleased to see the crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) blooming and growing again.

My crossvines are duking it out on the back fence with some deciduous coral vines. Frankly, I hope that the crossvine wins - even though the non-native coral vine is quite pretty and attracts a ton of bees - because I want a nice evergreen screen on that fence. Let the war begin! I bet they'll find some happy balance.

On a completely unrelated note, I was thinking how interesting it is that the toprical milkweed blooms are colored just like the monarch butterflies that find them so attractive...