Garden liana - morning glory: overview of species and features of maintenance

Features of caring for potted morning glory

You can plant several bushes in one flowerpot, making the distance between them at least 20 cm. When transplanting morning glory seedlings to a permanent place in a pot, you should know that it does not tolerate it well. This should be done using the transshipment method, being careful not to damage the roots.

In order for the vine to branch well and not stretch, the seedlings must begin to be pinched at the stage of 4 true leaves.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the support for the flower: it is installed at the seedling stage, when the seedlings are short, otherwise they will intertwine with each other. In the pot itself, you can build a structure from bamboo sticks, installing them in the form of a wigwam, or install a decorative plastic lattice.

Growing seedlings and planting seeds in open ground

Morning glory can be grown in seedlings or the seeds can be sown directly into the ground.

To plant seeds:

• In March or April, at a constant temperature of at least 18 °C, prepare the soil by loosening it well, removing stones, clods and any weeds.
• If the soil is poor or quite compact, add an organic fertilizer containing manure and compost.
• Prepare the planting hole and place the seed in it.
• Cover with soil, tamp lightly and water with a watering can, being careful not to wash away the soil.
• The optimal planting distance is 30 cm between each plant.
• Flowering will begin in 2 or 3 months.

Growing seedlings

Before sowing the seeds, you need to prepare them by soaking them in water the day before, which will soften the hard husk and promote rapid germination.

• Prepare a box or cassettes for seedlings, fill them with fertile soil consisting of part sand, part peat and part humus.
• Make small holes at a distance of 10-15 cm from each other.
• Place 1 or 2 seeds in each hole.
• Cover with soil, tamp lightly and water without drowning the seeds.
• Keep the seedlings warm and ventilate periodically to prevent the environment from becoming too humid.
• Planting in open ground is carried out in May or June.

Video instructions for soaking morning glory seeds and further sowing and growing the plant

Use in landscape design

Planting sweet potatoes in your garden is a great landscaping solution. This wonderful, beautiful, absolutely unpretentious plant can decorate a balcony, terrace, or your garden. It is resistant to winds, rain and is able to maintain an attractive appearance even in bad weather conditions.

Morning glory in a hanging pot

It looks best as a hanging plant. Even one bush can look spectacular in a flowerpot, and a composition of different varieties of morning glory looks amazing.

Morning glory gets along well with various ornamental crops. Looks great with petunia and various cereals. Morning glory with dark purple foliage contrasts wonderfully with flowers of red, white, and soft pink. This beauty can be mixed with other decorative foliage plants, such as coleus. It is important that the plants have enough room to grow so that the more vigorous morning glory does not crowd out other crops.

Morning glory sweet potato. Care, reproduction, decor

There are a lot of options for using this plant, it all depends on your preferences and fantasies.

Types and varieties

Sweet potato morning glory (Ipomoea batatas) is the most common genus of plants. It is represented by more than 500 species of both annual and perennial plants. The plant is native to the tropical regions of America. However, out of all this diversity, decorative floriculture today uses only 25 species, and the most popular among them are:

• Morning glory Cairo (Ipomoea Cairica). The plant is characterized by dense shoots with a huge number of flowers. The liana grows quickly. Creates a dense carpet on any selected surface.
• Morning glory Heavenly Blue. In England, this variety is very common and is called “morning glory”. The flowers of the plant bloom first in the early morning, and during the day the pedicels turn over so that the flower always faces the sun. The first flowers appear at the beginning of July and delight with their unique beauty for a long time. Flowering continues until the first frost.
• Morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea). The plant comes from the tropical regions of America and is characterized by a very long stem, up to 8 m. The vine also has beautiful bright flowers, which are popular with gardeners all over the world.
• Morning glory nil (Ipomoea nil). This variety is considered annual. It is characterized by rapid growth of stems up to 3 meters long.
• Moonflowering morning glory (Ipomoea alba). The shoots reach a length of 6 meters. Before sowing, the seeds need scarification, since they have a very dense shell. The diameter of the plant's flowers can reach 12 centimeters. The plant can reproduce by layering. To do this, in the summer, the shoots at the root collar must be pinned and sprinkled with soil. After just two months, the cuttings can be transplanted and stored in the basement for the winter. Those plants that have successfully survived the cold season can be planted in the soil in the spring, enjoying quick results.
• Ipomoea tricolor or (Ipomoea tricolor). This vine is characterized by strong branching of stems up to 4-5 meters high. A characteristic feature of this variety is the sky-blue tricolor color of the flowers. Particular attention and interest are caused by blue or purple flowers, which have a bright white and pink central part.

Classification

Among all the varietal diversity, three varieties were and remain the most popular: Tricolor morning glory, Kaloniction and Batata. The latter variety is well known to gardeners; its fruits are grown in garden plots and are successfully used as food.

You can grow these gramophones with your own hands (Kaloniktion)

The Kaloniktion genus is known for its moon-flowering morning glory; it is distinguished from other species by its velvety white gramophones and long shoots, often reaching 8 m. This variety is ideal for creating a thick living “curtain” on the balcony and reliably covering the walls. Flowers can reach a diameter of 15 cm and have a pronounced, rich aroma.

In the photo Ipomoea Purpurea

Tricolor morning glory has more modest shoots, reaching 4-5 m. It got its name due to the variability of shades. The core of the flower remains invariably yellow, but the petals can change their color from white to deep blue; hybrids of crimson and purple hue are less common.

Scope of application

Grows actively in summer. It wraps well around any landscaping support. The plant is not used as medicine. However, the roots, which look like tubers, have biologically active substances and can be eaten. They taste like sweet potatoes.

A fast-growing loach that wraps around any support in its path

With its dense foliage, the plant can create shade in a gazebo or on a terrace. This also helps to hide some space from prying eyes and sunlight. Often, morning glory is used to decorate withered trees or ugly pillars. In addition, it is possible to plant it in boxes on a balcony or loggia.

Original tree decor thanks to climbing vines

It easily combines with various climbing plants: campsis, hops, ivy or wild grapes. Looks good in combination with trees. You can create the effect of a flowering tree by running morning glory shoots on the branches. A vine near forged lanterns will look unusual. You can decorate the wall of a tall building or a low building.

Dense foliage will help create shade on the summer terrace

Another design technique is to create an arched entrance to the garden, entwined with morning glory. In addition to the aesthetic effect, you will add the aroma that flowers spread. Designers often plant vines in garden vases. To do this, a wire frame is built on the flowerpot, reminiscent of a bouquet of flowers. The climbing plant will encircle it, and you will have a real bouquet of unfading fresh flowers. It looks especially beautiful on a green lawn.

Floral decoration of the entrance gate

Morning glory is often used on alpine hills. Thanks to its unpretentiousness and ability to grow quickly, it has become one of the sought-after flowers used in the design of personal plots. Designers combine the liana with different flowering plants and create a decorative accent with its help.

The landscape design of the local area will be refreshed by the rich shades of climbing plants

I recommend it for balcony growing

Morning glory "Solar Serenade"

Instructions for selecting a variety:

Bindweed is rightly called a symbol of Japanese poetry.

Description of the plant

Depending on what type of plant was chosen, you can observe flowering in the morning or evening hours. In this case, the flowers bloom for only 1 day. However, if you consider that morning glory stands out among other loaches with a rather large number of buds, the rapid falling of the petals will not be so noticeable.

There are many advantages to growing this plant, but there are also some minor disadvantages. In particular, we are talking about the fact that morning glory stems are poisonous. But this should not be scary, since not all plants grown in a house or apartment are completely harmless, you just need to be careful.

For example, in the case of this plant, children and animals should not be allowed near it, because this is fraught with allergic reactions.

The peculiarity of morning glory is that its shoots always rush upward. Therefore, even if the seeds fell into the soil where there is no suitable support nearby, the vine will curl along the ground until it reaches a vertical surface. Another difference between morning glory is that it does not require special care or pruning. This plant will quite neatly cover any surface it is planted near, without the need to give it a neat shape.

Growing morning glory

The shoots begin to bloom at the beginning of the summer season, from June, and this process ends in the cold weather. But you can prolong the pleasure of seeing beautiful flowers on your balcony; to do this, you will need to bring the tub with the plant into your apartment at night. If desired, you can keep the plant alive until the New Year and longer.