The vines in Elaine's arbor have been growing at a fantastic rate. They've wound themselves entirely around the crib railing -- as I hoped they would -- but, then they took off, creeping along the ceiling and floor. In fact, they're threatening to take over and decorate the entire house. I can think of worse things than a house completely clothed in grape vines, but it's still kind of surreal.

Anyway, I figure I must have picked out some kind of unusual variety of grape, since grapes don't usually act like this. I've been trying to do some research into what kind of plants usually behave in this surreal fashion, and I happened upon this great book: A Field Guide to Surreal Botany. It hasn't helped me figure out what's going on with this grape vine at all, but there are some other fascinating plants in there that I might want to check out and add to my green menagerie.

The Thuringian Shade-tree and Time Cactus are two of my favorites, but I think they'd both be a little dangerous with a young 'un around. The Kitty Willow and Avian Trumpetflower, however, would make beautiful and highly entertaining additions to anyone's garden.

And those are just a few of the amazing plants I learned about from this great book!