Thursday, February 23, 2017

Morning Glories







Good Morning Glories


It's almost spring time. I love planting seeds and watching them grow and bloom. Here is one of my favorites.

Good Morning, -------Glory,” is one of my friends favorite greeting, and morning glories are one of my favorite flowers. They are fantastic, easy to grow vines that have masses of large heart shaped leaves and big, bright, eye-catching blossoms that really do seem to shout “good morning.” I've spent many an early morning with a good cup of coffee watching these delicate flowers unfold to the sunrise, all the while knowing each one will be gone by mid-afternoon. But not to despair, as there will be another group opening the next morning.

I plant morning glories. I plant them in every corner, in every spot in my yard that doesn't already have something else growing there. I plant them to grow on the picket fence bordering my front yard, and so they will grow on the post supporting my mailbox at the corner of the driveway. I like to have the climbing the trellis on the corner of the patio. I don't have a very big vegetable garden but there are usually several volunteer morning glories on the garden fence. I had had mounds of them along the edge of the lawn, and climbing trees and even up shrubs and roses.

As a child I resented having to do any yard work but I quickly learned to admire the fast growing vines with their large leaves and beautiful flowers. I was taught to grow them as a child and let my son grow them when he was a small child. The seeds are large enough for small hands to be able to see and hold, and the plants develop fast enough that children can begin to understand how plants grow.

Last summer I read everything I could find about growing morning glories and decided to do some experimenting with them. I bought as many different kinds as I could find seeds for and planned to grow them in the ground and in pots. Morning glories or Ipomoea come in several different colors. Heavenly Blue is the all time favorite, its blue flowers being four to five inches across. There is, also, Scarlet O'Hara in red and the white Pearly Gates. The three make a beautiful red, white and blue showing for the Fourth of July. Other colors include shades of pick and purple and some that are striped.

These vines are considered annuals, meaning they only last one summer season. Sometimes they come back from the many seeds the flowers produce, but it is usually best to reseed to get the colors you want. Starting plants from seed can be done either directly into the ground after all danger of frost is over or they can be stared about six weeks ahead of time in peat pots that can be put directly into the soil of the flower bed without disturbing the plant roots. The plants don't do as well if grown in plastic pots and then pulled out as they don't like having their roots disturbed. When planting either in the ground or in pots they should be planted ½ inch deep after being soaked overnight or for about four hours in water. I found it is not necessary, as some books and seed packs recommend that the seed should be scarified or nicked with a small file or fingernail clippers before soaking. If you do decide to do this hold the seed between thumb and forefinger and nick the pointed end. Avoid damaging the rounded end as that is where the plant embryo is located.

Morning glories are called twiners, meaning they go round and around the first upright support they come in contact with. They have growing tips that are very sensitive to tell them where to climb. Strangely enough, they usually move in a counter-clockwise movement. If the tip finds a horizontal or lengthwise object, it will try to avoid it and “feel” for a vertical object to climb. And climb they do. They try to climb on anything but do best with a little help. Chain link or open wooden fences work well, as do trellis, lattice, and even chicken wire. Special nails or hooks with glue can be used on cinderblock walls and houses, along with a grid of criss-crossed string. They grow very quickly, reaching twelve to fifteen feet in a season. In World War 11, in parts of southeast Asia, morning glories were used by the British to camouflage ammunition dumps and gun emplacements because they grew so fast. You can use them to screen unsightly garbage cans or fences or your neighbors yard.

Remember that morning glories don't like rich soil that has been heavily fertilized. Living in New Mexico I already knew they did well in our hot, dry climate with its poor soil. They should do well anywhere they don't get to much water. I add a little compost from my organic compost pile to the area I want to grow the flowers in, but not as much as you would with most flowers, trees, and shrubs. Don't add any fertilizer, either, or you may find you have nice long vines with wonderful leaves but no flowers. The same with watering your morning glories. They prefer low to moderate watering and will rot and die quickly if over watered.

I have never been overly bothered with any kind of insect pest on my morning glories, which is great for us organic gardeners. No spraying, or bug picking. I did have a friend who said she had some problems with powdery mildew in humid weather. I have not encountered this problem.

If you think you want to try growing morning glories but don't want a vine, I have several seed packets for plants in a dwarf or bush style. They are usually pink, blue, or red with a white throat, and are very showy in pots or hanging baskets.

After you have planted your morning glory seeds, sprinkle a packet of portulaca, cosmos, or marigold seed in your flower bed or large container. These annual flowers will add more color and take about the same care and watering. I planted sunflowers with some morning glories. The sunflowers provided support for the vines and the blue and gold mixture of flowers was very colorful at the end of our long hot summer when everything else seemed to have weathered and dried out from the heat.

I'm searching the seed catalogs for new verities and color for this year. Hope you'll try a morning glory garden, too.