The sweet potato vine is the perfect metaphor for this past summer. Like the rising rivers that leapt over their banks so often this summer, the sweet potato vine spread out beyond the narrow confines of the garden and took over the paths and walkways, even spilling out onto the lawn.
Summer took more than its share of the four seasons this year. The heat and humidity started early, truncating our spring and pushing its way into autumn as well. Some spring flowering trees and shrubs actually came into bloom again instead of changing colors. The sweet potato vine similarly took more than its share of the garden, taking over not just the pots it was planted in, but the neighboring pots and planters as well, even taking root in the ground as it spread.
The south is always muggy and buggy in the summer, but this year it felt downright tropical. The air that blew in with the hurricanes actually felt refreshing compared to the stagnant atmosphere that it displaced. The sweet potato vines gave the late summer garden a tropical look as well. It looks like a miniature primordial forest out there. I haven't ventured in there in many weeks, but when I do it will be with tall boots and a machete in hand.
All I can say is hooray for fall.
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