Stopping to smell the flowers
By Arlene Marturanoa marturanoa@yahoo.com

Jack Dobosz has added Brugmansia, angel trumpet, to the front yard instead of the trumpet creeper. The latter vine was damaging the brick and mortar.

Two years ago we introduced readers to the house that Jack built constructed of plants. Globetrotter and native of Poland, Jack Dobosz, recreated his reminiscence of faraway places in the garden caressing his home. What changes have ensued in the past two years in his Chicago garden?

 

Plants represent cultural history to Dobosz and whether a tourist or resident, he gravitates to botanical gardens as if they were art museums. His vineyards of France, Italy, and Spain remain the backbone of the backyard casa made of grapevine walls and ceiling. The cyclone fence is still camouflaged in tomato vines.

However, the massive yellow and orange trumpet creeper vines (Campsis radicans) covering the brick façade of his home which trumpeted the joy he felt for the life he has made in the United States are gone, not because his sentiments for his chosen homeland have changed. He remains steadfast in saying, "I have the best life in the United States for food, for culture, for religion, and for independence." The grip of the vines was destroying the brick and mortar.

He found a trumpet shaped tropical flower to replace the vines, the angel trumpet.

He grows the Brungmansia in giant pots in the front of the house. It is one of the easiest tropical plants to grow and has much larger flowers than the trumpet creeper vines. The pendulous trumpets are 12" long and 8" across in white, yellow, apricot, and pink. An added bonus is their fragrance. After the first frost, he overwinters the dormant plants indoors with lowlight and little water.

Tropical cannas and hibiscus are grown along with yucca and varieties of cactus from desert regions. Rows of red and white petunias and impatiens, the colors of the flag of Poland, still line the walkway to his front door.

Surrounded by nature the house that Jack built continues to grow and change with the seasons.

The casa made of grape vines remains in the backyard.