PlantFiles: Bush Morning Glory, Morning Glory Tree, Badoh Negro, Borrachero, Matacabra
Ipomoea carnea

I have grown the morning glory tree for several years. It freezes, but its easy to protect the lower part of the tree with mulch . I put mulch about 15 inches high all around the plant and it survived 15deg. Just remove the mulch in the spring, cut off the frozen parts, and it will quickly send up new sprouts. Its very easy to root, just cut off some stalks into 8in pieces, wait about 2 days, and put the pieces into some water and the roots will start to from in a few days. Some of the seeds come up near the mother plant. The plants get about 10 to 12ft tall, and need about 6ft diameter at our place.

I have recently come from Houston to San Antonio Texas, Hill country. I had tried this plant in Houston and it was OK for about a year and then died or possibly froze, it bloomed but no seeds I remember. I now have it again in my Texas Hill Country garden and it was tired and sickly looking when i got it on sale, then the deer ate it (more bad news!) and now it is going crazy with new growth and am hoping for flowers before the 1st frost. I intend to put stirofoam pipe protectors arround the branches in hopes the stems will not freeze down to the ground. Success with this in the past on other tender perenials.

Although these are tender perennial in my garden. They wintered well in my lighted basement. Lovely flowers are produced all summer long, and the bonus seeds they made.

We were out walking in our neighborhood here in Merida in January and saw where someone had cleared an overgrown front yard with a machete. There were dozens of woody stems with leaves lying all over the street and sidewalk. Not knowing what they were, but thinking we could root them, we picked up as many as we could and carried them home to our rental house. I cut the ends off at an angle and put them all in a bucket of water. In just over a week everything was beginning to grow roots. I found out from googling around that they're called Bush Morning Glory. Now that I know what it is, I see this plant everywhere here. It's tough as nails, seems to grow out of concrete with no water at all, and it never looks tired in this intense tropical heat (temps are quite often over 100, even in winter). I love it. I've planted mine and they are already blooming. I will take some over to our house in Patzcuaro, Michoacan, which is up in the Western Sierra Madre mountains at 8000 feet, and I hope they do as well there as they have here. It seldom goes below freezing temps, but the nights there are chilly year round, in the 40s and 50s, and daytime highs in the 80s. I love this plant because it is so drought tolerant and since lack of adequate water is an issue all over Mexico, it is perfect for the gardener here.

I'd bought a morning glory bush (pink) a few years ago, but it died during the summer. I must've used the soil to repot another plant because a plant began to grow that looked familiar, so I let it grow in the same pot. It finally bloomed, a nice pink flower that looked similar to a hollyhock. I still couldn't remember what it was till a friend of mine said it looked like a morning glory, and of course I finally remembered that's what it was. We then got a bad frost, but it didn't harm the plant. I'm now waiting for it to bloom again. I guess that seed had been dormant for a few years, so don't toss out any old seeds! I'll keep more of them this time, but I'll also try to root stem cuttings.

This plant was discovered 100 years ago and its seeds are powerfully psychedelic which is considered poisonous by White botanists, Natives today still use the seeds for healing ceremonies it is as powerful as Hawaiian Baby Woodrose
so don't be afraid it probably won,t hurt you and may actually help some if ingested as it has been used as Badoh negro for a long time among the indians for various kinds of depression particularly for women, the difference between medicine and poison is dosage. Besides all that it is a beautiful and hardy plant

I received several cuttings from a friend, , gave away a few and am totally impessed by this plant. But I am in zone 7, have some plants that are hardy to zone 9 and they grow here, they did it, not me. Is there any chance that this will live in my zone? I will take cuttings, but just wondered if anyone has them coming back every year in my zone. I love the plant and the flowers, but its habit is unruly and I thought that was because I started with a cutting. It branched every which way and really looked weird.

So, I, in my I don't know state of mind, plan on taking cuttings and see if it will come back If anyone has it growing in zones 7 and 8, I would really like to know.

Thanks, Peg

I'm a new gardner and loving it. Believe I have the Japanese Morning Glory (Ipomoea nil 'Isochidori' -- deepest blue ever!) climbing and blooming like crazy up pyramid trellis on my deck. Planted seeds and tossed the package (newbie!)Would love to have the same action in a second redwood pot flanking the other side of our deck entrance. Attracting humming birds is so great!

Has anyone had success creating clones from stem clippings? If so, can you share a how-to here or point me to a good one please?

Also, I'm in New Hampshire and wonder if this plant can be brought inside to an arboretum area during the winter or if I should just plan to start over from seed next spring.

Thanks.

I bought some seeds off ebay for this bush/plant hoping for it to grow at least 4 to 5 feet creating a hedge along my fence. I bought them early this year in April. Out of the 15 seeds only 4 survived but that's mostly because I have a very plant interested 3 yr old that decided he was very curious about them. Anyway, one is 3' tall, and the others are about 2' and have branched at the base resulting in two stalks. They are doing great, however, was wondering how long it takes before they start blooming? None of my plants show any sign of blooming anytime soon.

I have never grown this plant. But I do know that it is one of the only Ipomea's that is not invasive to Arizona...

I love my Morning Glories here in zone 5! Originally I bought a purple one but last year pink ones appeared and I dug up some and put in another bed, and then this year we got blue ones also, all from the same annual plant :-) Now the original garden has all three colors and beautiful ! WOW! In our area, the seeds just drop and sprout the following year. My only concern is: when do I thin out the bed since it's getting too many and slightly invasive? Thanks! Valerie

This morning glory has proven to be a true perennial here in zone 10, surviving four winters now. It languishes in the cold weather, losing its leaves and dying back. I prune it to within 8" of the ground then in spring, just before it begins new growth. It tends to grow a few very tall branches (leggy). I prune it in early summer to encourage bushier growth but it just doesn't seem to make a difference. In late August, the flower buds fatten and blooms begin to appear daily in huge flourishes and lasts until the temps cool. It blooms early in the day then in the heat of the afternoon, the leaves wilt and flowers close, but it springs back each evening. I recommend this plant as a backdrop. It is a stunner when in full bloom.

I got 6 rooted stalks from a friend in Arkansas. I followed her instructions and kept them in a cool dark place in water until Spring. I brought them into the sun when it warmed up and they started to sprout leaves! YAY! Planted them, and this year, they only got about 2 feet high, but they bloomed everyday... beautiful pink flowers that the bees, ants and ladybugs loved! I only had 2 seed pods form though, so I'll be cutting stalks to winter over for next year. I love this plant and would love to see it reach it's full potential height wise!

This is a new plant for me, but I am loving what I see so far. I have three rooted from stem cuttings. They are growing rapidly and blooming like crazy.
Mine are lavendar in color and very pretty.
I would really like to have the pink and white as well, if someone could help me with them.

I love this plant I have all 3 colors, the light pink , the deep lavender and the white. any cutting roots easy in water. or I just stick them in potting soil and they root easy that way too. The seeds I just push into moist potting soil and within a week I have plants.

Three plants growing in sandy soil in Lake Worth, Fl. for 5 years. Lost all leaves during two severe hurricanes, one in 2004 and one in 2005. Survived and flourished after each storm. All my shrubs and trees are under drip irrigation.

Ah, so glad to hear there's hope with this plant!
I started 8 seeds indoors late March. 2 seedlings survived and I kept in pot for some time. In late June planted them. They are over 3' now, and one has branched double so it looks like 3 large, leafy stalks. There has been a cluster of blooms-to-be for 2 weeks now. Tonight there is a large bud I bet comes tomorrow. The other 2 stalks now have the beginning of the pale dot-cluster that turns to buds. Have kept them well watered (in alm. full sun) all summer. We've been close to 96-100 deg. alm everyday since mid-may. Can't wait to see these bloom!!

I purchased this tall and scraggly plant at a local nursery and planted it near a block wall. It did beautifully for over 2 years, growing rapidly with frequent, deep watering. It thrived throughout the hot summers, even when other plants withered with the radiant heat from the wall. The blossoms were beautiful - 3-4 in. in dia, lightly fragrant, in showy clusters, several blooming each day. Seed pods were very interesting. Jackets containing prolific, hard-shelled, furry, teddy-bear like seeds. I gave a friend several and kept a batch for myself. My friend planted them and reported none sprouted. My plant became very unwieldy, with hard, woody stems about 2 in. across and over 8 feet high. Hard to control or shape. Last Fall, I pruned it back, hoping it would branch out from the base, and it never recovered. The woody stems dried up and rotted. Since many of our native desert species have hard shells and require scoring (or slight cracks) in order to germinate, I bit off a tiny piece from about 12 of the year-old seeds, put them in a pot with soil and vermiculite, watered lightly, and put into a sealed plastic bag, in bright light. Only today did I read that the seeds are toxic! In a week, there were tall spindly sprouts. I am always amazed at how something green sprouts from a brown seed. Silly, huh? Wish me well. If the sprouts do well, I will plant again -- this time in an area where they can bush and grow as they want without me needing to control them.

San Antonio, Tx.
I knew in the deep dark recesses of my mind that I had seen this plant and its seedpods before when I ventured upon it growing in a yard near downtown San Antonio. But I just could not remember where I had seen it and its name. I researched and could not locate it so I posted a photo at the Plant Identification forum where it was identified. I was speaking with my 92 year old mother about the seedpods and she said, "Don't you remember? Your brother William planted these in our yard." She proceeded to describe the blooms, the seedpods and the the plant's growth habit. My brother has been deceased for 38 years. My, my, my ... my mother at her age has a better memory than I do.

This plant has an open, some would say sprawling, growth habit, and needs planty of space. Its blooms are in clusters and are very showy. The seedpods which are "hairy" add interest to the plant. It used to be grown widely in San Antonio many years ago, but I have seen only a few plants here in recent years. I have found sites that state that an extract of the leaves causes intoxication and the smoked leaves are a hallucinogen. The seeds are the most potently poisonous of all the Ipomoea species. It is considered invasive in some locales, but I am going to plant a few by my fence in my native plant area. Rest assured that I am not going to brew a tea to become drunk nor smoke the leaves.

This is a very nice plant,not to big and large, in my garden it bloom all the summer and it is very resistant to the intence heat of our summer. The plant is very showy when
blom in pink, the lives are big and nice I have full of seeds.

Tall interesting tropical plant with 2-3" blooms of pinks & lavendar, easy to propagate with stem cuttings.