morning glory

Those white ones look lovely MF.

Do Morning Glory do well growing in containers or are they best in the soil?

Mine are called Star of Yalta and will be a deep violet colour, looking forward to seeing them flower.

Stingo

 

Hi MF - Yes, I hope they get done quickly too, but its going to take 6 - 8 weeks!!!! (and the garden is only 40ft x 40ft)..... and guess what I'm doing this evening? B&Q for a job lot of BIG pots!!!! :rolleyes:

 

These are forms of the sweet potato - Ipomoea batatas. They run about rooting into the soil and are probably best grown in hanging baskets or as low, temporary ground cover, where you can control the slugs! If you're very lucky, they produce tiny new tubers as well - but it needs to be really warm over a very long period for this to happen. Any flowers tend to be part hidden by the foliage and are pale lavender, often with a deeper purplish throat.

 

Thanks, DaveP, I bought them for hanging baskets. I'm pleased with both, very attractive foliage, no flowers yet but 'blacky' looks good with its' new leaves pale green. I'm hoping they will flower to see if they set seed as easily as morning glory. I didn't know they were battata, my sweet potato last year did flower but was planted very late and I didn't get any seeds.

 

Unfortunately, the cultivated forms of sweet potato are virtually sterile and rarely if ever produce seed. All ornamental and culinary varieties are reproduced from cuttings or tubers. 'Blackie' and 'Margarita' (lime green) are grown from cuttings or micro-propped since even if seed is produced, the progeny are very different and of uncertain vigour. This means that plants need to be overwintered in bright airy conditions as close to 15C as possible. They have some wonderful colour forms over in the US and one that I particularly admired was a stunning coppery bronze labelled as 'Bronze Caroline'. It does not appear to have crossed the Atlantic - maybe it isn't as vigorous in cool summer climates like ours.

 

Thanks again!. I will have to decide whether to try to overwinter or buy new next year, temp. is a bit high for my greenhouse and I haven't much space indoors.
Last year all the fuschias were OK but Bizzylizzies [none] and geraniums [about half] did not fare so well. I don't think I can do much more than frost free!
Perhaps more varieties will arrive from US, I hadn't seen these two before this year.

 

I am swamped with all kinds of impomoeia this year, unfortunately the yellow moon flowers didn't germinate, but the sharp variety are going well.

The ones I grew last year are germinating self sown seeds all over the lawn and flower beds.

 

Have any of you tried the perennial Ipomoea indica (learii)? It is an absolutely stunning plant with a phenomenal growth rate, capable of producing thousands of 10cm. flowers from an overwintered cutting. It overwintered successfully out of doors here for several years before I tidied its preferred resting space. Like many 'borderline' plants, it finds its own spot where it can survive and does not always stay in its allocated place. A piece of stem will bed itself down in a sheltered corner and the following year everything starts from there - the rest dying away over winter. Away from the south coast, it needs to be overwintered under cover, but as cuttings, not a large plant.

The stems run for 10m or so in all directions, rooting into the ground where they touch and once flowering starts it's an explosion of colour. Grow it up a sunny house wall or fence for a mass of flower in late summer to early winter. Individually, the flowers open an intense blue, but as the day goes on, they change through to mauve, then eventually take on pink shades. They last for just a day, but although most open in the morning (hence the common name 'blue dawn flower'), some also open in late afternoon so you often get a continously changing multi-colour effect.

It roots with ridiculous ease - just take a 25cms. length of stem and stick it in water and in 2 weeks, you've got a new plant for next year. If you can overwinter fuchsias or zonal pelargoniums, you can overwinter this. All it needs is to be kept on the dry-side in a frost free greenhouse. Well worth tracking down and you can get a brilliant performance from a plant in just a 30 - 40cms. pot.

 

Haven't heard of this, sounds great- I'll have to try it!

 

Hi, DaveP

It grows wild here and, yes, what a beautiful sight it is in bloom. It does take over everything in it's path, however, bit like Passion Flower, and can become very invasive. I only just recently started one and it's about 10 feet tall and has had it's blooms for a few weeks now. They can actually go to 30 feet or more.

I have also planted a mixed variety in shades of pink, lilac, white, etc, and they are in pots just a few inches tall at the moment. I'm anxious to see how they perform.

 

I half suspected it might catch your attention Liz. Much easier to overwinter than the coloured forms of sweet pototato too.

Lady of Leisure, you must live in a warmer climate than that of the UK. It is as invasive as our native bindweed in hotter countries, but we don't need to worry about that here.

 

I've found seeds for a perennial yellow one [Jungle seeds] but can't find supplier for this one. Did you buy plant or seed?

 

Yes, DaveP, I think southern Portugal is a wee bit warmer than the UK !!!!

 

I've been growing learii DaveP, but its never overwintered for me here, first sign of frost and its gone.
Bought my plant in Cornwall but I have seen it elsewhere, as you say it roots easily, especially from the long non-climing stems that spread out in all directions.
I grow it in about a 10in pot, cuttings from the previous year usually, I find too much root space delays flowering at the expense of foliage.
I then take a few cuttings in summer to overwinter and grow on next year.