{"id":454,"date":"2012-07-30T06:55:02","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T14:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=454"},"modified":"2015-11-24T07:32:32","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T15:32:32","slug":"morning-glories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/morning-glories\/","title":{"rendered":"Morning Glories"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right now morning glories are working their way through the garden, climbing the trellising by the back porch, creeping along the ground in front of the privet hedge and insinuating themselves into the plantings between the sidewalk and the street.\u00a0 In short, they are everywhere.\u00a0 The reason for this is that \u2018Grandpa Ott\u2019s\u2019, the variety that I planted years ago at the base of the trellising has self-seeded.\u00a0 A number of those seeds found their way into compost that I mixed with store-bought mulch and used all over the garden.\u00a0 The seeds apparently had a one hundred and ten percent germination rate and now are blossoming en masse.<\/p>\n

There are worse things in life than too many morning glories.<\/p>\n

Morning glories are something of a marvel.\u00a0 The flower petals\u2014five apiece–emerge from twisted buds, unfurling into trumpet-shaped blossoms that open in full glory in the morning and close by the end of the day.\u00a0 The colors are beautiful\u2014shades of white, true blue, purple, red and yellow, with some bi-colors\u2014but it would be foolish to use them as cut flowers.\u00a0 The snip of the scissors is the flowers\u2019 death knell and they generally fold their petals and die as you arrange them.\u00a0 It is much better to acknowledge the brevity of their lives and leave them on the vine.<\/p>\n

The Latin name \u201cipomoea\u201d comes from the Greek word \u201cips,\u201d meaning \u201cworms.\u201d\u00a0 This almost certainly refers to the curling vines that will grasp onto just about anything in their path.\u00a0 These vining ways also mark them as members of the Convolvulaceae or bindweed family.\u00a0 Morning glory\u2019s relative, Convolvulus arvensis, the common field bindweed, with its pretty white or pink flowers, is a bane of agricultural existence.<\/p>\n

The annual morning glories now creeping over, under and around my property are cultivars of either Ipomoea purpurea, native to tropical parts of the Americas, or Ipomoea tricolor, native to similar tropical areas.\u00a0 Several sources mention that the seeds of the tricolor species have been used since at least the time of the Aztec empire for medicinal and hallucinogenic purposes.\u00a0 I presume morning glory seeds have long since been supplanted by substances that are more effective for one purpose or the other.\u00a0 They should be considered poisonous and kept away from unsupervised children and pets.<\/p>\n

The variety that started my morning glory explosion, \u2018Grandpa Ott\u2019s\u2019 is part of the tricolor species.\u00a0 It bears rich purple flowers and has a unique claim to fame.\u00a0 Handed down to Iowa gardener Diane Ott Whealy, the seeds inspired Ms. Whealy and her then-husband Kent to launch a quest for heirloom ornamental and edible seeds.\u00a0 Their research and outreach efforts culminated in the establishment of the Seed Savers\u2019 Exchange in Decorah, Iowa in 1975.\u00a0 The Exchange, in turn, helped to fuel the heirloom gardening craze and its offspring, the garden-to-table\/sustainable food movement.<\/p>\n

Morning glories are easy to grow from seed and can be planted directly in the ground after all danger of frost is past.\u00a0 To speed germination, nick the large seeds with a nail file before planting.\u00a0 The vines will sprout in the spring and begin climbing, but will take off at mid summer and bloom until hard frost in the fall.\u00a0 The plants require sun, reasonable moisture and not much else.\u00a0 They are so determined that it\u2019s likely if you stand still long enough in the proximity of a morning glory vine, it will begin clambering up your leg.<\/p>\n

The range of available varieties is large and vendors offer both single and mixed variety seed packages.\u00a0 I like the time-tested favorite, \u2018Heavenly Blue\u2019, a tricolor variety that dates back to the 1930\u2019s.\u00a0 The bright blue blossoms are as inspiring in the current recession as they were back in the Great Depression.\u00a0 Two striped cultivars, \u2018Venice Blue\u2019 and \u2018Venice Pink\u2019 create wonderful swirling patterns on trellises and other supports.\u00a0 I also covet \u2018Glacier Star\u2019, with palest blue flowers accented with a deeper blue \u201cstar\u201d in the center.<\/p>\n

For those with less space or container gardens, \u2018Blue Ensign\u2019, another tricolor variety is just right.\u00a0 Often described as a \u201cdwarf\u201d cultivar, it has white-throated, dark blue flowers and a mounding habit.\u00a0 When grown in a container, it will form a six inch-tall mound and eventually cascade attractively over the side.<\/p>\n

Morning glory seeds are available at most garden centers and big-box stores.\u00a0 Right now, in late July, some packages may be left.\u00a0 If you live in USDA Zone 6 or above, buy now, nick the seeds, plant right away, and water regularly.\u00a0 You will probably have a good chance of blooms in the fall.<\/p>\n

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Photo by David Wagner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you are thinking ahead to next spring, or making notes in a garden diary, take a look at the varieties offered by Select Seeds, 180 Stickney Hill Rd, Union, CT 06076-4617, (800)-684-0395, www.selectseeds.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free catalog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Right now morning glories are working their way through the garden, climbing the trellising by the back porch, creeping along the ground in front of the privet hedge and insinuating themselves into the plantings between the sidewalk and the street.\u00a0 In short, they are everywhere.\u00a0 The reason for this is that \u2018Grandpa Ott\u2019s\u2019, the variety … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2,3],"tags":[120,118,119,121,116,115,114,58,117],"class_list":["post-454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-climbers","tag-climbing-annuals","tag-climbing-plants","tag-easy-to-grow-plants","tag-flowering-annuals","tag-ipomoea","tag-morning-glories","tag-summer-gardening","tag-vines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454\/revisions\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}