Dutchman's pipe flowers

These vines have such odd little flowers.  I read someplace that the flowers emit an unpleasant odor, but I’ve never detected anything unpleasant about them, odor or otherwise.  But there are definitely more flowers on the vines this year than ever before.  What I didn’t expect was that these vines send out runners, and I now have to be vigilant about weeding them.

I planted the vines on the advice of a friend who is a master gardener.  I wanted a green wall that would hide the secret garden.  My initial plan was to put in arborvitae.  I actually love the vines, but I don’t like the ugly supports.  My mistake there was hiring a handyman who was in over his head.  It’s really too late now to take the supports down and put something more attractive up. So, I have to enjoy the green walls when they are green and dream of them when the leaves fall and winter blows in.