thanks ruggy, i read the same thing about them liking poor soil, or if the leaves too lucious it attracts pest or something. unfortunatly they do have some pest problem. when i grew it from the seed and when i repotted i underfertilized than other plants. the pest is real mistery. i've try to figure it out, but i haven't seen anything like it. it's tiny weeny soft body type it's light tan or yellow sometimes blackish- i guess when adult. they are definatly not aphids- they are smaller and sort of very thin , short dash line looking. they are making some holes in the leaves, there aren't many but i don't know what they are , i just have to go daily patrol and spray whever i see them. they are in the balcony railing facing the west and a little bit of north, so i think they get plenty of sun light during the summer. maybe it's the seed, i bought it from gurney's and it was cheap and actually i wasn''t crazy about the quality of the seeds. but it's weired otherwise it's growing so much so fast... maybe i'll just expect to have MG flowers next year with good seeds.... thanks for replying. and ppcatz-i personally love vines. they are so pretty. my new favorit is black -eyed susan vine, i always liked clematis , jasmin..... balcony looks so wonderful with lots of vines

I'm growing my own Bamboo now, but I also harvest it from local gardeners who have big groves, and like to have them thinned out. Yellow Groove Bamboo, aka Phyllostachys aureosulcata, is extremely cold hardy and fast growing. It's a runner, so you have to take measures to keep it in bounds, but it's a fantastic plant. It's evergreen in my mild zone 7 coastal climate. My grove was 4 years old last season, and it's shoots grew to 20' and are 1" in diameter. It should eventually throw up culms 40' tall and 2" in diameter. Here's a photo of my MG tower, backed by my Bamboo grove, from last year: The MG tower is a stainless steel boat part, and between 11 and 12' tall. It was set on two 4' pieces of rebar, driven 2.5' into the ground. When it got full of MGs, the wind nearly blew it over, but it was gorgeous. This afternoon, I anchored it with Sakrete, and I'm going to enhance it with a few upright 2" diameter Bamboo poles, and some cross-members. @clarejoe...you want to be sure to tie that teepee down solidly. When it's full of MG leaves, it'll be a real wind-catcher.

Don't think it's a brazillian one. The leaves on mine are different, heartshaped. The seeds where dark black and quite large, but no hairy anything on them. I don't have any leftover ones to take a pic of. I planted the 4 I had and only 1 germinated. Karla, the trader said the flowers where in bloom during the day, not at night. Don't all moonvine bloom in the evening and dark? I just don't want to plant the seedling if it could turn out to be anything like binweed or Noah, that tiny orange/red mg that reseeds everywhere for years and years. Took a friend of mine 5 years to get rid of all the seedlings that kept coming up every spring all over her yard and gardens, even in the middle of the lawn and a crack in the middle of the road. Think I'll send the trader and e-mail and see if she can give me more info on them Fran

Your vines appear to be Ipomoea purpurea (since you say this is a mix, you may find another species mixed in when flowering really gets underway); pink flowers with darker stripes and a white center is a common pattern in this species. I've seen this variety sold under several different names by seed companies and eBay sellers. The other major gardening site has pictures of it under the name Pink Rambler. Ipomoea purpurea varieties mix freely among themselves. This species produces a lot of pollen and is very attractive to bees. If you see any unusual types in your planting you want to be certain of having in the future, you will need to bag or tie off a few of the flowers before they open, mark the resulting pods, and save these seeds. Even then, in this case it isn't certain they will come true since your current vines originated from open pollinated seeds you saved from a mix that itself was probably from an open pollinated source.