Moonflowers. Those spooky, primal, otherworldly-looking creepers. I used to hate them when I was young. Anyone know what I’m talking about? The moonflower is an invasive, bushy set of vines with large, white trumpet blooms and heart-shaped leaves. Unlike other flowers, the moonflower only blooms at night. It is pollinated not by bees and butterflies but by bats and night moths. It climbs trellis’s, walls, and anything else it can grab hold of. Although poisonous to animals and children, many people love to grow moonflowers for their eerie nighttime glow and sweet, luring perfume. Not me. For me, the moonflower was the vine of nightmares.

In my childhood home, my father had planted moonflowers at the corner of the house just below my bedroom windows, which ran across both corners of the ro…