The Morning Glory

(An Old Time Favorite)

~ By Jus Kuntree ~

For a long time, the Morning Glory has been a favorite of many gardeners. It's one of those plants that can be very appealing, not only to people, but to many of the smaller creatures as well. As suggested by it's name, these flowers are wide open and at the peak of their beauty during the morning hours. By late afternoon they will close up, as if they're resting before putting on the next show the following morning.

Available in a wide range of colors, they're easy to grow, they grow quickly, and soon a fence or trellis will become cloaked in an abundance of greenery and blooms.

The seeds of the Morning Glory have a hard coat on them, so before planting, it's best to soak them in warm water at least overnight. This will help them to germinate a little easier and quicker. Find a spot where there's plenty of full sun, and the soil is well drained. After working the soil, plant the seeds about an inch deep, then keep the soil moist especially until the plants are well up and established. Be sure you wait until the danger of frost is past before you plant them though.

Now you can start them a little early inside. If you choose to do this, plant the seeds in peat pots about a month before the last expected frost. It's best to use peat pots, so that when you do transplant them outside, their roots do not get as disturbed. They will handle the transplanting much better this way.

As they grow, you can gently wrap them around whatever structure you're using for support. Once they get a good hold on it, they'll continue to wrap and twine themselves. There's any number of things that can be used as support for your plants. Fences, arbors, gazebos, trellises, twine, or even fishing line that is attached to some object. And you can get creative in how you direct the plants to grow if you use something with some flexibility.

Morning Glorys are annuals, but it's very easy to harvest seeds from them in the fall after the little pods have dried. I have a bunch of seeds that I collected, put in an envelope, and stored in a dry, cool spot, and will plant them this spring. And, they can do a real good job of reseeding themselves too. Sometimes this can be a problem, because some of them can get a little carried away and out of control. And a word of caution here, Morning Glory seeds are poisonous.

As for being attractive to the little creatures, Morning Glorys are a favorite of hummingbirds, and butterflies. And of course honeybees love them, and as you know, honeybees are wonderful pollinators for your garden. This might be something else to consider when making a decision about where to plant them.

Now, which kind of Morning Glory would you like to plant? Oh my! Whether you buy your seed at a local garden center, or order it from a catalog, there are a lot of choices!

One of the all time favorites, and an old standard, is the Heavenly Blue, with it's striking sky blue blooms. It's been around for many a year!

The Flying Saucers produces an absolutely stunning white flower, that is touched with streaks of blue/mauve. Boy do I want some of these!

Oh my golly goodness! There are white ones, pink ones, blue ones, purple ones, bi-color, tri-color, colors of the rainbow! I am overwhelmed!! Now lookee here from Swallowtail Garden Seeds, all the different color variations they have! I am just drooling here!

How about a ruffled Morning Glory? Yes indeed, you can get that too! The Sunrise Serenade is an absolutely gorgeous plant, with magenta colored flowers that are ruffled.

Here are some more links to sites where you can browse for seeds to purchase, or just take a look at all the gorgeous Morning Glorys that are available these days. Better have pen and paper handy to start that list!

There is a huge selection of varieties from Thompson and Morgan and they have catalogs available in several countries. Burpee's also has a nice selection as does the Territorial Seed Company and the Jung Seed Company.

Oh, and hey, if you get a little sidetracked browsing around, don't feel bad! So did I! Now where did I put that list???

         

All ideas, concepts, and content including text, content and graphics are owned by
The Garden of Friendship and its members unless otherwise noted and should not be
taken or duplicated without expressed written consent. © 2000 and beyond.
The Garden of Friendship