Hi Ya All. This is my first post to vines. I am usually gleaning the wonderful tips on orchids and bog plants. Here is my sad tale. Please have patience with me. A while back I had to move from the heavenly mountains of Tennessee to a Gawd-awful pile of 10 acres of sand and not one tree in Michigan. I have systematically hauled in dirt to the point where I feel like a human bulldozer... Built ponds/waterfalls, hauled in mossy rocks, stumps and logs, and planted trees and all until I created my own little piece of Appalachia...

My pride and joy was a weeping cherry I brought with me from Tennessee. Nothing rare or unusual, but something besutiful from my old farm. For seven years it had fantastic growth, and gorgeous flowers. It became a focal point when I built a stone waterfall snaking down and around under one side, which spilled into a koi pond wrapping around the other side, and reflecting the lovely weeping branches as the water flowed down a "stream" to another pond surrounded with my favorite rhodos, also from my farm. It was my "piece of heaven" and became even more so when my beloved wee little little dog, Mary Agnes, was, in the end, laid to rest under it. It had been her favorite tree to lay under at the farm also.

After that, this particular area became known to all my friends as the M.A.M.A. (The Mary Agnes Memorial Arborium...) Where we celebrate her birthday with a party every June, and her friends bring a lily or some little flowering plant to add to her garden. We plant them after the BBQ, which she loved as much as her "aroma therapy." (I could cut her a stem with huge lilac blooms, and she'd run into her bed with it, roll on it, and lay on it for hours!). But probably birthday cake and pizza beats the BBQ. Or Beef Stroganoff made with prime rib. LOL. Her cholesterol level was probably off the charts. The vet's diagnosis of leaky heart valves as a pup, gave her the prognosis of less than six months to live. Living on Egg McMuffins, lobster bisque, gourmet cheeses and everything drenched in Alfredo sauce plugged her up pretty well, as she lived til fifteen. A VERY old age for an English Toy Spaniel.

Her party has grown into quite a yearly event.

I have my morning coffee there and am just filled with joy for the rest of the day.

Three years ago, aomething horrible happened. Most people thought lightning, altho there was no scorching. The tree's truck split completely down one side, nearly all the way thro. With the help/suggestions of Garden Web folks, I was able to keep it alive for these three years. I was amazed that it appeared to actually be slowly healing, but alas and alack, this was its final winter.

I had some suggestions such as mount a bird bath/sculpture/memorial/light on a tall column made out of the trunk/stump...

I could not cut it down. i just can't.

I look at it, and its so beatiful even in its nakedness. Such a lovely graceful shape. And suddenly I got the idea that perhaps it could be "resurrected!" Perhaps there is a magical vine that would love to twine itself around those branches and give my tree life again? A vine that would tease the koi as it admired its own flower reflections in the pool? Flowers for little Mary Agnes. Maybe if there really in a botanical heaven, the flowers would even be fragrant?!?! , Remember Mary Agnes was VERY into aroma therapy!

Wow. I really went off on a tangent here... But I guess just wanted to be clear about what effect I was hoping to achieve... I am SO hoping you vine people can work some magic for me?? And more importantly, little Mary A.

I am in zone 5, but seem to have better luck with zone 4 stuff. The tree is in an area where it gets lots of sun during the afternoon, and is now protected from wind by a deck. The dirt has been very enriched. I don't have a lot of money, but I would spend whatever it would take to order something "just right" for this project. I want to make Mary A proud... And I need some sleep. I can hear her impatient high pitched wailing from wherever these little outrageously spoiled wee beasties go to "wait FOR you" so you can "wait ON them" ... FOR ETERNITY!

She probably thinks I will be bringing double cheese, pepperoni and mushroom pizza.

Please help. I am pretty set on the idea of a vine, but all suggestions are welcome.

Work a miracle for me!!!

Thank you all so much...

Kathe