Day 206: The purple Akebia now has a few blossoms open and hundreds more to come, each one about the size of the pink of my thumbnail. For the first time, I detected the scent, although I had to put my nose in a cluster to get a good whiff. I would not describe it as chocolaty; rather, it reminded me of something tropical like frangipani or plumeria. That said, the weather has been cool and flowers are at the peak of their fragrance in warmer temperatures. The next few days are forecast to be warm and may initiate a full olfactory experience. I have also gained a greater appreciation of Akebia's vigour. In just a week, the stems of the white vine have put on a foot or more of new growth, now reaching beyond the top of the trellis. As I mentioned in my post three days ago, Five-leaf Akebia produces a tasty fruit, but does so rarely in our climate due to the fact that it flowers in May before the pollinators have emerged. The next phase of this horticultural experiment will see me out there with my little paintbrush, gathering pollen from one vine and transferring it to the other.
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