Tendrils

I'm seeing a lot of tendrils now. This one is a grape vine. The vines send out tendrils that grasp and climb the horizontal support wires strung along the vineyard rows. A few times during the growing season, the growers will drive tractors fitted with spinning blades that cut off branches on the sides and the tops of the vines, making very neat, uniform rows. The grape bunches are safely nestled in the interior of the plant where the blades can't reach.

A grape tendril that hasn't found a gripping point.

There are also many tendrils in our vegetable garden. The green beans, climbing beans, winter squash, and cucumbers all send out tendrils to grip and climb. I will soon need to clip off the ends of the winter squash to keep the plants from wandering too far outside the garden beds and encourage their fruit to grow.