Morning Glory - Planting and Care in Open Ground

Flowers

Want to quickly camouflage an unsightly wall or fence? Morning glory can help. We'll explain what morning glory is, how to plant and care for it outdoors, what diseases it can be susceptible to, and how it propagates. Photos of the plant can be seen below.

Description

Morning glory, or bindweed, is named for two Greek words meaning "worm-like." This isn't because the plant wriggles, but because of its root. This heat-loving vine is grown for only one season in temperate climates, but can become a perennial in the south.

Homeland

Brought in the 17th century from South America.

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Stem

A vine up to 5 meters tall, attached to supports. The stem can be thin and long or form a bush.

Leaves

The foliage is dense, predominantly green, of varied shape, covering the entire plant.

Flowers

They bloom early in the morning, for which they have received interesting nicknames in different languages:

In Russia it's "morning dawn".
In Japan, "morning face".
In England, "Long live the morning!"

The flowers are large, gramophone-like, and pleasantly fragrant. They come in a wide variety of shades.

They have their own peculiarity: although the liana grows in the subtropics, its flowers can remain closed in bright sunlight, but open in cloudy weather.

Interesting!

In Russia, only Siberian morning glory is found in the wild; other varieties have been bred by breeders.

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The main conditions for growing morning glory from seeds

Morning glory is a southern plant and loves the sun. It's best to plant it outdoors in late May.

Site selection and land cultivation

The flowerbed for morning glory should be located in a place protected from the winds.

Preparing for morning glory planting begins with the soil. Use equal parts peat, sand, and humus. The soil should be neutral. Loosen, weed, and moisten the soil. Fertilize. You can water the soil with boiling water. Plant holes 20 cm apart.

Seed preparation

To ensure quick germination of morning glory, planting and care in open ground begins with seed preparation. The photo shows all the stages of this process. Knowing when and how to plant the flower can help you achieve excellent results.

Processing methods

There are several ways to quickly germinate morning glory seeds:

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Stratification

The seeds are essentially frozen in the top compartment of the refrigerator for two weeks. This happens during the winter at low temperatures. They are then removed and placed in a rooting solution.

Moisturizing

Morning glory is placed in the vegetable compartment, after being wrapped in newspaper.

After removing and treating the seedlings with zircon, wrap them in a wet cloth. When roots appear, plant them.

Hot water treatment

Morning glory seeds can be pierced with a needle and then placed in a thermos filled with water at about 60 degrees Celsius overnight. They will swell.

Important!

Before planting morning glory, carefully read the planting instructions and follow the planting timeframes.

Landing

Soaked seeds are planted in a prepared flowerbed, 2-3 seeds per hole. Water.

Support

As soon as the seedlings begin to emerge, each plant should be supported or tied to a common support. Any mesh, fence, or specially inserted stakes can serve as a support.

Caring for plantings

The plant is heat-loving and initially requires covering with agrotextile. After that, the process is the same for many plants.

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Picking seedlings

This is a must, even though morning glory doesn't like it. Using a stick, the plants are removed and inspected. Those that are unripe or have any defects are discarded, while others are replanted in separate beds.

Regular inspection and feeding

It's important to periodically check under the plants and inspect the leaves for spots or discoloration. This indicates the presence of disease or uninvited flying or crawling insects.

Strengthen your morning glory by applying nitrogen and potassium fertilizers and insecticides. This boosts its immunity. This should be done throughout the growing season.

Watering

Watering should be done every two weeks or whenever the soil dries out. In dry weather, pour up to 1 liter of water under the bush.

Advice!

Avoid stagnant moisture, carry out moderate procedures.

Post-processing

After the morning glory blooms, which continues throughout the summer, care is simple:

Removing wilted flowers and stems
Maintaining soil looseness
Mulching with wood chips or grass.

Diseases and pests

Diseases and pests can sometimes kill morning glory plants. They need to be regularly inspected, and action taken at the first sign of damage.

Late blight. The entire root system dies, and the plant is completely removed.
Root rot. Leaves quickly turn yellow, red threads appear on the roots, and the root collar dies. The morning glory is dug up and discarded. Healthy plants are replanted.

Spider mites. Signs include yellowed leaves and thin white webbing. To remove the insects, spray with cold water for several days, then treat with Iskra.
Whitefly. A sticky substance appears on the leaves. The juices have been sucked out. Spray with malathion.
Aphids attack morning glory leaves and flowers, sucking their sap. The insects are washed away with a sprinkler, then sprayed with a soap solution and biotin and Fitoverm.

Types of Morning Glory

Morning glory, found on almost every continent, comes in a variety of forms, from vines to trees. Each has its own unique planting and care requirements. Let's find out.

Types of Morning Glory	Description of the plant	leaves	flowers	peculiarities
Sweet potato	More than 500 species. Edible, low.	Palmate.	Funnel-shaped, lilac.	Ipomoea batata is also known as "sweet potato." When planting and caring for it in open ground, avoid overdoing it with fertilizers, as this will affect the quality of the vegetable.
Quamoclit	An annual plant growing up to several meters, Ipomoea quamoclit is native to South America. Planting and care in open ground should be appropriate to the growing conditions.	Carved, openwork, light	Bright, many shades, star-shaped	Looks like little Christmas trees
Purple	Branched shoots with hairs, reaches 7m.	Heart-shaped, hard, large.	Large 7-8 cm, burgundy, abundant flowering.	Fully reveals itself on cloudy days.
Ivy-shaped	It resembles ivy, an annual vine with a branching stem,	Trifoliate, elongated, pointed.	Most often they are blue with a white border, but they can also be red, pink or burgundy.	Flowering until late autumn.
Water spinach	The stem is hollow, forming adventitious roots.	Pubescent below, oblong.	Up to 5 cm, from white to red.	It is used as an additive in various dishes.
Sky-blue (Ipomoea Heavenly Blue)	Belongs to the tricolor genus, native to southern Mexico. It is grown as an annual vine, growing up to 3 m per year. The stem is smooth.	Wide, heart-shaped.	sky-blue with a white throat, large - up to 10 cm in	Blooms abundantly from mid-summer until the end.
Tricolor	native to the jungles of America, with branched stems,	Large, round, heart-shaped, elongated	up to 10 cm, collected in rosettes of several pieces.	Over the past two centuries, breeders have managed to develop a multitude of interesting subspecies and varieties.
Nile	In our country it is grown as an annual plant. It grows up to 3 m and branches heavily.	Oval on long petioles	up to 10 cm in diameter, red, purple, blue, pale blue, pink with a white center	July-October.

Varieties

Vines are very popular among gardeners, and a huge number of varieties have now been developed to meet demand.

Morning glory variety	description	Color and appearance of flowers	Flowering time
Slaughter (cardinal)	Leaves about 8 cm, small	fiery	July – October
Cairo	The stem is smooth, the root is tuberous, and can be dug up and stored. The vine is tall, with dissected leaves.	multi-colored	From mid-summer to early autumn
Star Waltz	Morning glory, 300 cm tall, perfectly decorates terraces and porches. "Star Waltz" is unpretentious. Planting and care in open ground are easy.	Huge, up to 12 cm.	From mid-summer until frost
Pinnate (cypress)	The plates are transformed into needles, the stem is more than 4 m.	Small, pocket-sized	June – September
The star is a beauty	The leaves are heart-shaped, grows up to 300 cm.	Scarlet, with a yellow center, huge.	June
Star Scarlet – Grandfather Otts - flowers are deep purple;	Broad, heart-shaped, slightly rough leaves	Cherry, milky edges, abundant flowering	All summer
Ruby Lights	With rich green foliage, deeply dissected, resembling a fern.	Purple, small.	Until the end of October
Sunrise Serenade	The leaves are light green, round and large.	Flowers are pink, double	Long lasting, almost 3 months
Lobata mine	Ipomoea mina lobata is unlike other varieties. With proper planting and care in open ground, it has a long flowering period.	Elongated inflorescences, like small peppers, made up of numerous buds.	It ends with the onset of frost.
Milky Way	The greenery is elegant and well suited for decorating objects.	White with pink stripes up to 8 cm	Within two months
Kniola Black Knight	Green, heart-shaped.	Burgundy, with a pink tube, dark, huge	June-August.

Some morning glory varieties have tubers that need to be dug up. Planting and caring for this perennial vine outdoors is especially important. This flower looks magnificent in the photo:

Some varieties by inflorescence color:

Blue: Blue Star, Summer Sky.
Blue: Flying Saucers, Grand.
White: Pearly Gates.
Burgundy: Chocolate, Lady Hamilton.
Orange: Spanish flag.
Reds: Fire Red Quamoclit, Mikiozaki.
Pink: Fortuna, Marzipan Stars, Imperial Mix.
Purple: Fluorescent, Gypsy, Violetta.

Design

Morning glory is a boon for designers because it grows quickly. It can be trained onto suitable supports, which it will twine around, giving them any shape. For example, the Ruby Lights morning glory can be grown as a trailing plant, but planting and care must be more careful than in the open ground.

When carrying out landscaping work, attention is paid to annual species that can fill empty spaces not yet occupied by perennials.

Features of plantings

Due to its southern origin, the plant must meet specific conditions in various climatic zones of Russia.

Morning glory thrives in hot weather, so planting and caring for it outdoors in Siberia can be challenging. Many gardeners prefer to grow it from seedlings. This is as easy as planting it directly in a flowerbed. You just need to prepare the containers by treating them with a potassium permanganate solution.

Don't be afraid to experiment. Create your own beautiful landscapes. Morning glory will help you with this. Planting it is easy, and its care is perfect for beginning gardeners. It grows quickly outdoors and looks stunning in photos.