What are Morning Glories?
Morning glories (Ipomoea purpurea) are a small flowering plant belonging to the nightshade family. They have been cultivated since ancient times and their culinary uses include flavoring tea, making jam, pickling, and even medicinal purposes. The flowers are white or pink with purple spots and grow up to 3 inches tall. They have four petals and are very fragrant. Their taste is milder than tomatoes but stronger than peppers.
The leaves of Ipomoea purpurea contain the most active chemical known to man, called iproniazidin A, which is used as a folk remedy for stomach ailments such as indigestion and ulcers. The leaves are also used in Chinese medicine for treating coughs, colds, sore throats, asthma attacks and other respiratory problems.
How to Grow Morning Glory Plants?
You can grow Ipomoea purpurea plants indoors or outdoors. You can also keep them in containers. These plants prefer full sun and will thrive if given plenty of water. They do not like partial shade and will not survive without supplemental lighting. They need regular watering to stay healthy, so make sure they get at least twice a month!
If your plant is in a container, make sure the container has at least one hole at the bottom for drainage. Morning glory plants are sensitive to overwatering, especially when they are in containers. Place it in a location with good sunlight, but not in direct sunlight.
These plants can grow up to 5 feet tall and will need support such as a trellis or pole.
How to Care for Morning Glory Plants?
If your plant grows flowers, you will need to deadhead the old flowers to encourage it to produce more blooms. Cut the stem off just above the green part of the stem and make the cut just below a set of leaves.
After a few months, old woody stems start to look ugly and should be removed from the plant. You can do this during your deadheading routine as well. Cut the stems just above the node and make sure to remove the whole stem and not leave a stub.
This encourages lateral growth and more blooms!
These are really hardy plants that will grow in a wide range of soil types and prefer well-draining soil. Make sure you water the plant at the base and not on the leaves so it doesn’t get moldy.
You can fertilize your plant once every two weeks with any liquid fertilizer.
Glossary : Container
Containers are usually the same types as pots, but they are not always buried in the ground. There are also pots that are placed on trays buried in the ground. The advantage of this is that your plant is higher than the ground to reduce the amount of water and nutrients that are lost via the roots system.
The ground can also be kept drier than the soil the plant is in.
Watering is only needed when the soil has dried out. Never let the plant sit in water and make sure that all of the soil is drained through and there is no puddles of water sitting anywhere. If you are potting your plant, make sure that the container has plenty of holes to allow for proper drainage.
Once the plant is actively growing and you have at least a month between when you start seeing blooms start to wane, you can fertilize. You can either use an organic fertilizer or an inorganic fertilizer. If you decide to go organic, look for one that has a two or three number sequence.
This is the amount of nitrogen, phosphate and potash in it. A 16-5-8 would be the ideal type for this plant. If you decide to go inorganic, look for something with a higher middle number between the first and last number. A 10-10-10 is good.
Make sure that you are applying it at the root zone and not on top of the soil surface. You can do this by mixing it in water at a rate of 1 teaspoon per gallon of water and apply it to the soil at the base of the plant as if it was rainwater. You should do this at least monthly.
When To Transplant
You can either leave your plant in its original container or transplant it into a larger one. When you do this, it is important to make sure that the new container has plenty of drainage and does not have stale water at the bottom of it. It will be necessary to water it slowly for the next few weeks after planting it to make sure that the soil has enough time to dry out between waterings.
Never let the plant stand in water as this can cause root rot.
Sources & references used in this article:
Selection for character displacement is constrained by the genetic architecture of floral traits in the ivyleaf morning glory by RA Smith, MD Rausher – Evolution: International Journal of …, 2008 – Wiley Online Library
… gene InNHX2 and comparison of InNHX2 with InNHX1, which is responsible for blue flower coloration by increasing the vacuolar pH in the Japanese morning glory by M Ohnishi, S Fukada-Tanaka, A Hoshino… – Plant and cell …, 2005 – academic.oup.com
Constraints on the evolution of tolerance to herbicide in the common morning glory: resistance and tolerance are mutually exclusive by RS Baucom, R Mauricio – Evolution: International Journal of …, 2008 – Wiley Online Library