PlantFiles: Morning Glory, Grannyvine
Ipomoea tricolor 'Blue Star'

This plant is vigorous! And so floriferous! I love it! I planted just one seed about late April, it started growing, very slowly.......

When its first bloom appeared, it had grown very slowly, less than 5ft. of vine.
Now, it encompasses a 15'X15' area, and a week ago had more than 500 blooms!!! It now has "eaten" 2 new Southern Magnolias, a 'President Tyler' MG, 7 Tithonia 'Torch', several Love-in-the-mist plants, 1 small orange nasturium, and 6 dahlias!:((( And it is reaching out further to other gardens!
Other wise, this is by far the best plant for covering a large area for 1 growing season.

Will update and report on self-sowing.

Received from a commercial source, sold as 'Flying Saucers'. Not what I was looking for, but just lovely! I have them combined in a "light pink-hot pink-pale blue" combo. They are a little later to bloom than the other two, and the seeds are a medium-brown color, rather slow to germinate.

I have grown these several times, usually as part of a quartet with 'Heavenly Blue', 'Pearly Gates', and 'Flying Saucers'.

I think I prefer them on their own; the flowers are really beautiful but can look a little washed-out in comparison to the brighter or whiter blooms of other I. tricolor cultivars. I honestly don't remember where I got the seeds, but each time the seeds were distinctly lighter-colored than those of other morning glories. Unless you've harvested them yourself, I'd be wary of counting on dark seeds generating true Blue Star blooms.

I am aware of two slightly different forms of this cultivar, the earlier form having light beige seeds and a later form having dark brown to black seeds that I first saw circa 1988.

This cultivar looks exactly like the 'missing in action' Ipomoea tricolor 'Summer Skies', except for the darker star coloration to the folds. 'Summer Skies' had no pigmentation to the corolla folds as it apparently lacked the gene for spotting as described by Dr. Yoneda on his authoritative listing of morning glory genes and their function relative to morning glory plant pigmentation.

I also bought these as 'Flying Saucers' (even with the correct photo on the front of the package!), and ended up with a pleasant surprise. I actually planted both, in separate areas, but only these survived to flourish abundantly. These have done as well as my 'Pearly Gates' did last year, taking over a portion of the fence and producing lots of buds.

San Antonio, Tx.
I had never seen this variety until last week when I spotted one on a fence in my neighborhood. Thanks for providing its identity. It is certainly a sight to behold.

I purchased seeds labeled 'Flying Saucers' and had 'Blue Star' grow instead. Six weeks after the seeds germinated the two vines were 30 feet each, heavily branched, and covered with thousands of buds. They get bright shade in the morning with afternoon sun, and the flowers last until 3 PM or later. I have 50 to 100 flowers open on any given day; several of my neighbors have asked me to save seed for them. Because I live in California zone 10, this plant should continue to bloom for me into December and perhaps beyond. This is an outstanding plant that I would recommend for anyone who has the space to accommodate a large free-blooming vine.

Sometimes incorrectly sold as 'Flying Saucers', this variety has soft blue flowers with darker blue markings; not the blue/white "splashed" look of 'Flying Saucers'