Classic Garden Plants – Morning Glory


We have morning glories in the garden because we both love them. They bring back memories of childhood gardens and simpler times. I’m also particularly fond of blue flowers.

I’m not sure why my vines are so puny – not at all like the prolific ones I’ve seen in other people’s gardens that cover everything in sight. But the mix of Glacier Moon’s sky blue and baby blue 4-inch flowers more than makes up for that. The plants are covered with buds that open in sequence, so our attention is focused on each huge individual saucer for its one day in the sun.

Dan has to make a trip home at lunch time to see the flowers, which are never fully opened before he leaves for work, and always finished by four o-clock.

Morning glories are easy to grow from seed (my seed was three years old and all germinated). I didn’t soak them, or notch them, just tossed them into growing medium, kept them warm and moist and seven days later, voila!

Morning glory’s easygoing ways make it a natural for any garden and a good starter plant for young children. They won’t have to wait long for the seeds to put up their first leaves.

Ongoing care consists of a little fertilizer and making sure the plants get enough water. Train morning glories to a trellis or post with a few pieces of garden twine to give the vines something to hold onto until they find their own way. Lazy gardeners can just let them sprawl – they will climb the first vertical object they encounter.

A bonus for photography buffs is that the simple structure of the flowers lends itself to a minimalist graphic interpretation with a huge impact.

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