Morning Glory vine
If you need to cover a trellis or fence in a short amount of time consider planting an annual vine. Annual flowering vines tend to grow vigorously and continue to bloom until frost kills them. They provide a vertical interest to a garden, add privacy and shade, block the wind, and camouflage any unsightly view.
Morning glory vine (Ipomoea tricolor) is a fast growing tender vine that can easily climb a trellis or fence by twining itself around the support. The funnel-like flowers open in the morning, hence the name morning glory.
The vine can be started from seeds indoors 4-5 wks before the last frost date or sown directly into the ground after the soil warms up. Before planting, scrape the seed coat with sandpaper and soak in water overnight to allow better germination. Plant in any type of soil but it grows better in poor, infertile soil and blooms best in full sun to light shade.
Once established Morning glory can self-seed and spread becoming a weedy plant, smothering plants and difficult to control in the flowerbed. To avoid this problem be sure to remove the seed pods. Grow it in a container or adjacent to a sidewalk were it can be managed. The large flowered cultivars tend to reseed less.
Common Morning Glory (Ipomoea purpurea) has large flowers in shades of red, white and blue. “Heavenly Blue” cultivar of (Ipomoea tricolor) is a popular blue color.
A compact series with variegated foliage ‘Good Morning’ and ‘Mini Bar Rose’ can be grown in baskets and containers.
Another vine worth mentioning is Moon Vine (Ipomoea alba) which produces heart-shaped-leaves and large fragrant white flowers. Because the flowers open from dusk to dawn, this vine can be enjoyed in the evening garden, by the light of the silvery moon.
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I want to save seeds from summer flowers such as Morning Glories, Hollyhocks, etc. How and when do you do this? Thank you, Pam & Donna
Comment by Pam Loveland — 4/3/2008 @ 10:10 am
i recently moved into a new house and there are morning glory vines everywhere, what is the best way to get this plant back under control.
Comment by anne shaw — 5/3/2008 @ 1:45 pm
Hi,
I planted morning glories from seeds about two months ago. The leaves look quite healthy & are starting to put out runners. Within the last two days a noticed quite a few holes in the leaves. Looks like something is eating the leaves, but I didn’t spot any worms or anything anywhere around them. Any suggestions as to what to dust them with or spray on the foliage?
Comment by Janet Gibson — 5/9/2008 @ 10:26 pm