Popular for over a century, morning glories have always been an important part of our gardening heritage and a perpetual favorite on the seed racks. As their name implies, morning glories are known for their habit of opening their beautiful flowers early in the day and closing up in the afternoon. The plant is even more amazing when you realize that each flower only lasts one day and each morning brings you all new, fresh flowers.
Morning glories are prized for their abundance of large, deep-throated flowers. They also have attractive heart or ivy-shaped leaves. Botanically, morning glories are Ipomoea, part of a large group of annual and perennial plants. Morning glories are annuals in our climate and need to be replanted each season. Most of the varieties we now grow in our gardens originated either in Mexico or Japan. And most are either the common morning glories (such as 'Heavenly Blue' and other varieties of Ipomoea tricolor) or the Japanese types (such as 'Scarlet O'Hara' and 'Crimson Rambler', varieties of I. nil).
You might also come across a plant called compact, miniature or bush morning glory. That one is actually a cousin, Convovulus. Its flowers are similar, but they do not vine like regular morning glories. Another member of the clan is the moonflower, I. alba. Unlike all its other relatives, it has huge pure white fragrant blooms that open at dusk and stay open throughout the night.
As frustrating as it is, most morning glories close by mid afternoon. The Japanese types have a reputation of staying open a little later, but even those aren't likely to be open late in the day. You might also find that on cloudy days they stay open a few hours longer. The Japanese varieties seem to get a few weeks head start on other varieties. The trade-off is that Japanese varieties don't bloom quite as prolifically.
Hopefully the seed packet or plant tag will identify the plant by its genus and species. Japanese morning glories are usually identified as Ipomoea nil but sometimes they are optionally called I. x orientalis. If the plant or seed is not clearly identified, just check a good seed catalog or plant reference. The most commonly available Japanese varieties are 'Scarlet O'Hara', ''Crimson Rambler', 'Scarlet Star', 'Pearly Gates' and 'Morning Star'.
'Heavenly Blue', is by far the best-selling variety of morning glory seeds and plants, has earned its popularity. It is the most prolific bloomer around, often covering itself with so many flowers you can hardly see the vines. They also have some of the largest flowers in the family. The drawback to 'Heavenly Blue' is that it is slow to begin blooming.
Seeds of Heavenly Blue are easy to start and will germinate in about a week if the soil is warm– about 75º. The seeds have a fairly hard coating. If you can nick the seed coat or if you soak the seeds in a glass of warm water overnight before planting them, they will germinate better and more quickly. In our short growing season, it will really help to get them going if you start the seeds indoors about a month before you plan to put them out. Since the seeds won't germinate in cold soil, you would have to wait too long to seed them directly outdoors. If you want plants already growing and ready to transplant, check the greenhouse at any one of Bachman’s garden centers. Plants can go out as soon as we are past any danger of a killing frost. In our area, the average last killing frost in spring is in mid-May. Since they will do their best in warm soil, you may be better off waiting another few weeks to plant them. As long as they are up and growing by early June, they will do fine.
All morning glories need lots of sun and well-drained soil. Ideally, the soil should be neutral to slightly alkaline, but morning glories really aren't very fussy. Common morning glories such as 'Heavenly Blue' (Ipomoea tricolor varieties) actually will do their best if their soil is not very fertile. When the soil is too rich, you may get lots of vines and very few flowers. When they are first putting out their roots and growing the vines, keep them evenly moist but not wet. Once they have filled out, try to keep them a little drier, but avoid letting them wilt. Keeping them on the dry side will help trigger their blooming cycle.
Morning glories simply wrap themselves around any nearby support. Since they don't have tendrils, suckers or thorns to help them climb, they need something small enough to wrap around, such as chain link, trellises or even string. If you want to grow them on a flat surface, such as a stucco wall, simply provide some strings or netting for them to climb. Unless they are growing where you don't want them, morning glories don't need pruning. When you first plant them, you may want to lean them towards their support; once they have taken hold, they won't need any training.
Lack of bloom is the number one problem we hear about. This is usually caused by lack of sun, overly rich soil, too much fertilizer or a combination of these factors. Rainy summers are hard on morning glories. The excess water and cloudy days can lead to prolific morning glory vines with very few flowers. Morning glories aren't bothered by insect or disease problems very often, but they may have the occasional bout with aphids, inchworms, spider mites or flea beetles. The seeds are mildly hallucinogenic, so it would be a good idea to keep them away from children.
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