Trumpet vine

My two hours of overtime yesterday became two-and-a-half. My five hours of overtime today became six. Tomorrow I go in for a regularly scheduled ten hour day, and then on Monday I have another three hours of overtime and a dental appointment.

It helps me not think about a friend who has made an utter mess of her life, a friend I'd like to help but can't do a damned thing to help.

Here are some more flowers. I planted a single Trumpet Vine (or Hummingbird Vine) in 1997 because I like hummingbirds. The vine quickly became "vines" and spread all over the yard, faster than I could fight them back, but didn't put out any flowers for a good ten years. Now, they flower in profusion - sometimes the first sign that the vines have moved into an area is the appearance of flowers that look like the Rolling Stones lips logo.

This was on July 4 in the upper (south) side of the yard, near the mulberry tree. I'm not sure if these were just budding or had not yet opened for the day.

July 13. This is the location of the original vine, to the left of the driveway on the north side of the house.

Close-up in color. These flowers are not wet - it hasn't rained in a while. 

In high contrast monochrome. The surface texture of the flower is more obvious here.

Twenty-one years since I planted them, eleven years since they began to flower profusely, and I have yet to see a hummingbird attracted to one.


UPDATE: Shortly after I posted this, we had a brief but heavy downpour.