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I saw some morning glory around an arching gate opening once and I had to have it after that. Planted one small vine in the front yard full of palms and a huge ash tree. In just 2 years it was everywhere on everything. It doesn't just drop seeds, it reroots every few inches it travels along the ground and vines go up everthing wrapping themselves around everything. None of the palms could open their new fronds. Even the Ash tree, a tree about 40' tall, was covered with it... then of course large chunks would die in the summer heat and I would have 10-20 lbs of dead vine hanging off trees and shrubs (not much easier to remove than live vine). The cords of some of these vines are like the toughest rope... I could not snap them easily with my bare hands, and several inches thick of coiled cords would be trailing all over the yard and up everything vertical. It was like something out of a horror movie. I would go out with clippers, gloves and even a saw and cut, pull up, and yank off hundreds of pounds of vines all summer, filling green can after green can to the top, and I hardly made a dent in it all. There were so many vines I needed a machete just to walk through certain parts of the yard. Then a miracle happened... I got a divorce and my wife bought my share of the property from me. I have no idea how things are going now, but I will never make that exact mistake again (I still make horrible mistakes yearly, but not that one!).
PS that is not my yard, but it is sort of what it looked like in parts
I found this MG at the nursery and loved the var. foliage shape, which reminded me of ipomea blackie. I planted it as the trailer in a huge pot. Do you mean to tell me birds are going to spread it all over, even though I've exercised care not to plant inground?
I HATE VINES w/ a few exceptions.
I don't mind the colonizers as long as they don't choke out other plants. Australian violet, whichs makes a beautiful groundcover, can choke out huge plants such as EEs. I had a patch and decided to eliminate it. Next season I had about 10 var. EE sprounting. I had forgotten I had planted them there. THe australian violet made sure it didn't come up.
I keep reading all of these threads saying that Morning Glory is a Monster -- are there different varieties that are more invasive than others? We had vines on a fence row when I was growing up. They always stayed put in one location, never moved and never colonized the neighborhood.
But in a bizarre twist -- two years ago I planted some MG seeds on a trellis. They never sprouted. Last year I saw one lone MG vine on the ground in another location on the edge of the lawn. It never bloomed (as far as I could tell). This year I have MG's in the ditch lilies, and the dahlias, but they don't seem to ever bloom either. Am I doomed to a life of random non-blooming MG's in inappropriate places?
We have morning glory that has invaded our strawberry patch. Unfortunately I think we may have to just give up on that area and find a new place to plant strawberries. You haven't had a fun day until you try to untangle morning glory vines from strawberry vines. Anyone have a trick??
My first garden was bordered on one side by a chain link fence smothered in Morning Glories. It was beautiful. Until the seedlings started. My dogs would sup with glee on them, and then puke up a storm. I then found out that the vine is an hallucinogenic, and highly toxic to dogs, so beware on that count as well!
hernyn, you want morning glories, plant corn,and sweet potatoes and I guarentee you will see the little monsters.
Kirish - strawberries are hard and I do not want to undermind your misery, but I think sweet potatoes and morinig goleries are worse because it is hard to distinguish one from the other.
And plantaholic186 You are too late in telling me this. I heard this two weeks ago from my neighbor from Mass.
We were sitting in the shade looking at his corn patch- he has lost control of his corn patch. It was his first veg garden, he even bought a brand new tiller, and then found out he hates tilling.
I tried to make him feel better by telling him that at least he did not have morning glories twisitng around his corn. He then told me that selling packets of morning glory seeds was againest the law in Mass. I said "And well it should be!"
He laughed and explained that it was because it was a noxious weed but a halllucingen.
I told him to get out of here and go back to liar's ville.
henryn: I agree...I have never had morning glories get out of control...I guess I'm just extremely lucky or they just don't like our area (SE Indiana). I guess I should throw some in the veggie patch and see what happens! No, I won't really do that. I have MG's and moonflower seedlings in large pots in front of our house now, and despite being almost July they are only a few inches tall and just refuse to grow. Weird. I have had them on a trellis at our previous house and they would grow great in some spots but not others and I never found them where I didn't want them. OK, I guess my 'green thumb' really is brown if I can't grow these! :) Good luck to all with keeping your invaders under control!
ratlover1, I think in your (and my) area, weedy tendencies depend upon the species. The heavenly blue type (Ipomoea tricolor - which also includes the varieties 'Pearly Gates,' 'Flying Saucers,' 'Blue Star,' 'Wedding Bells') does grow like crazy once it takes off, but I've never had it reseed or return from the year before. Our winters are just too cold for it to survive, even in seed form. If I want them, I have to plant them every year. Other varieties, most notably Ipomoea purpurea (represented in the trade by 'Grandpa Ott', 'Crimson Rambler,' 'Shiva,' 'Kniola's Black' among others) DO seed for me, and I am often having to pull volunteers up throughout the summer. But they are worth it to me!
I planted a morning glory on my hillside about 3 years ago. It looked so cute and innocent in its little 6" pot. It has taken over about 1/4 acre. As palmbob says, it roots everywhere it touches down. I ran a conduit for electrical wires going to my downhill pool pump, and recently found morning glory had traveled it's length and come out the other side. I've finally hired help to try to remove it...wish me luck.
That top photo looks like the dreaded jimsonweed that grows all over creation in the fencerows. Have seen it up trees like the MG are in the photo. I know, jimsonweed IS a weed, not something you'd plant for "pretty".
Don't let a fear of morning glories prevent people in zone 9 and above from planting Convolvulus mauritanicus which is a non-vining perennial morning glory that really does bloom spring to fall and is possibly my favorite perennial. It is close to a perfect plant for those who can grow it.
If you have what appears to be non-blooming morning glories, or volunteer mg with tiny white flowers, you might actually have bindweed. If you do, you are in trouble. LOL My neighbor planted a mixed package of mg seeds all along her fence one year, and the colored ones seem to have behaved. However, apparently there were bindweed seeds in the package, too, and now my entire yard and veggie garden are infested with them. They've even climbed all my downspouts and shot along the gutters, and tried to send runners up the roof. I pull and dig and cut, and do my very best to remove all the seedpods before they can open (they look a lot like milkweed pods, and are similarly full of fluffy white seeds that travel on the wind), but still, I just can't keep ahead of them. Someone suggested that I put Roundup in a butter dish, cut an X in the lid, cut a bindweed vine down to about 8 inches tall, and insert the cut end into the Roundup. It was very time consuming, but I thought it might be worth it if it actually killed the plant. The little buggers didn't even get pale. They just grew in circles around inside the butterdish of RU. The only thing I've found that actually seems to KILL the stuff is called Vine-X. It comes in a bottle with a brush applicator, so you can paint it just on the plants you want to kill, and not get spray drifting onto other plants. Sigh. Gotta love neighbors that share their invasives with the neighborhood.
The way I deal with what I call wild morning glory, which spreads by roots and I'm sure by seed too and winds its way up in my shrubs, is to carefully unwind it all the way to the ground, leave the entire plant in a heap and then spray it with Round-Up. I've had quite good success keeping it under control and probably could completely eradicate it if I were vigilant enough. I know many are opposed to using Round-Up but to me, this is the perfect controlled use of an effective chemical.
Round-up (glysophate) needs the plant to take it into its system for it to work so it needs to be applied to the foliage, not just the stems. Painting it on helps avoid damaging any other plants nearby and minimize the environmental impact.
