PlantFiles: Japanese Morning Glory
Ipomoea nil 'Scarlett O'Hara'

I planted 20 seeds. 18 looked exactly like 'Wine & Roses'. The other 2 were completly RED. I was almost shocked by the quality of the color this one has. The true one are less vigorous, but the blooms last all day!!!

Oh my goodness. These are gorgeous! The color is unforgetable. It almost stuns you when you see it blooming.

Renee’s Garden seeds “treasured heirloom is a vigorous midsummer climber and has scarlet trumpet blossoms with dainty white throats that lure hungry hummingbirds.”

………Modest Mussorgsky’s Night on Bald Mountain......
(music fade in………)

Don’t plant Ipomoea nil 'Scarlett O'Hara' in your garden unless you really like them. They vigorously self-sow.

I'm just thankful that they are not alligators! And so are the hummingbirds.

In my experience, Scarlett O'Hara is perhaps a little redder than Crimson Rambler but still closer to magenta than red. They were strong climbers, heavy bloomers, and did not try to come back the next year.

Seeds purchased as "Scarlet O’Hara" produced weak plants with flowers that were a hideous orange-pink color with a white throat. Fortunately these ill-begotten monstrosities didn’t live very long and haven’t returned. I wish the major seed companies would make an effort to provide the correct ipomoea seeds to consumers! I once bought seeds labeled "Flying Saucers" that turned out to be Blue Star seeds. The Blue Star vines bloomed their hearts out with huge numbers of beautiful flowers. I gave the plant a positive rating because it was a pleasant if unexpected surprise. This year I purchased a packet of "Flying Saucers" seeds that contained two very different types of seeds. What’s up with that? Some of the seeds were a light tan color like the Blue Star seeds from the last "Flying Saucers" packet. The others were black. I started vines from the black seeds and we will see what color the blooms are this time.

The Ipomoea nil most often offered as Scarlett O'Hara turns out to have white throats / white tube and looks like "Wine & Roses" as entered in the PlantFiles here
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/55119/

The original 'Scarlett O'Hara'as described and pictured in 1939 has an all red throat...and the SOH plant is very similar in structure to the pictures of Ipomoea nil cultivar 'Candy Pink',but apparently the gene responsible for the all red throat in 'Scarlett O'Hara' can be 'lost,'if stringent breeding controls are not implemented.

True type 'Scarlett O'Hara' should be hand pollinated,with strict controls so as to preserve the 'Old Fashioned' true red throat / all red tube type,as this variety in its original authentic form is becoming a lost rarity.

I've been told nothing but great things about this plant, and how beautiful it can be! I only have owned mine a couple weeks, my brother gave as house-warming gift!

I have it sitting in a window...and been watering when soil gets dry...are there other suggestions that would help me keep this plant healthy as I have not had the best of luck with plants in general!

Besides not having a white throat, Scarlet O'Hara has hairy leaves and stems - Crimson Rambler has smooth.

As long as you know the limitations (reseeds) and handle it appropriately, a fabulous vine with gorgeous fuschia trumpet flowers.

Many noncommercial references describe this cultivar as being a pure red-to-magenta flower, with no white throat. Some of them have an image of an old seed packet that fits this description, lending credence to their charge that what is being sold now as 'Scarlett O'Hara' is not the same flower. It's also frequently misspelled as 'Scarlet O'Hara', (with only one "t".)

Creating even more confusion, some commercial sources list this cultivar as Ipomoea purpurea or Ipomoea tricolor, rather than Ipomoea nil.

I tried to grow 'Scarlett O'Hara' morning glories near Atlanta, Georgia, but the blooms were a deep purple/fuchsia color, not a clear red as pictured on the package, so my color scheme for that flower bed was ruined that year. Also the flowers were quite small. And then the plant reseeded for two years afterwards, almost weed like, climbing all over my other flowers! Fortunately, I had become less rigid about color schemes by then, because it was a pretty, showy color--just not red. Obviously seed companies are having a hard time providing a true variety for this plant!

From now on I'm growing morning glories in large pots with rustic trellises the first year, and collecting seed for the next year, but only if the plants come out true to color, or I happen to like whatever color they turn out to be.

For me, the flowers open in the morning but will not even last till noon. It folds up. Yes, over-fertilization of soil brings more leaves and delayed and scanty flowering.

The photos provided above look more like 'Scarlet Climber' than 'Scarlett O'Hara', which does not have a white center, as 'Scarlet Climber' does.

I recently purchased some seeds supposedly of 'Scarlett O'Hara'. However, they developed into flowers that were red with a white central star, more like 'Scarlet Star'.

Absoslutely reliable - 'Scarlett O'Hara' will tolerate a large planting in a pot, surviving well amongst others, will tolerate heat (excellent performance during last week's 100+ for 12 days in New England) - gorgeous bi-color!

Editor's Note: The true 'Scarlett O'Hara' is not a bicolor, but is all red. Other comments herein describe other similar cultivars offered as 'Scarlett O'Hara'.

This is an annual vine. It blooms summer through early fall. It requires full sun but will tolerate partial shade. The vine will reach a length of 8 to 20 feet. Provide something for the vine to climb on such as a trellis, netting, fence or other support. Let the soil dry out between waterings. Overly fertile soil promotes leaves instead of flowers. The blooms open in the early morning and close in the early evening. The vine has 4 inch wine-red blossoms.

Ipomoea nil 'Scarlett O'Hara' was the winner of the 1939 All-America Selections award.