Katherine H. Purdy

Having a stone house, Virginia creeper love throwing their tendrils up the side of my house. My mother said it’s not good for the house and will weaken the mortar and thus the stonework, but the mourning doves love nesting on the window sills with the leaves as cover, so I let the vines run up to a certain point. Plus, they turn a spectacular red in the fall.

The only thing that is lacking is flowers, so I decided a few years ago to plant wisteria in the back of of house to crawl up our balcony.

My youngest is the bane of my green thumb as she likes to pluck the blooms, although I can see why; they are gorgeous!