Ipomoea purpurea
Blue morning glory, bindweed, day glory, morning glory: this last name says exactly what happens. Each flower opens at dawn, displays its purest blue throughout the morning, then closes and fades before evening. The next day, others take over—and this continues all summer long.
Characteristics:
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Ephemeral intense blue: large, funnel-shaped corollas in a deep blue, renewed every morning.
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Exuberant growth: it covers large areas very quickly, reaching up to 3 meters.
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Dense foliage: broad, heart-shaped leaves that form an opaque plant screen.
Precautions:
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Morning glory seeds are toxic if ingested: they contain alkaloids and must never be consumed. Keep them out of reach of children and pets.
- A frost-tender plant, destroyed by the first frosts: it is an annual in our climates, even though it is perennial in tropical regions.
Sowing advice:
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Exposure: full sun—without heat or light, it produces foliage but few flowers.
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Soil: rich, moist, well-drained, and loosened. Unlike its cousin cardinal morning glory, this one appreciates fertile soil: in pots, use enriched potting soil. Above all, avoid soil that is too dry, as it shortens flowering.
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Method: no stratification required. Since the seed coat is hard, soak the seeds for 12 to 24 hours in lukewarm water or lightly scarify them, then sow in spring after the last frosts, 1 cm deep. See how to sow your seeds.
Planting advice:
- Provide a support when planting: trellis, pergola, fence, balcony, tree trunk, or stake. It climbs by twining its stems and becomes tangled if left trailing along the ground.
Care advice:
- Water regularly, especially in pots where the growing medium dries out quickly. Guide the young stems onto their support during the first few weeks.
Beneficial combinations:
Benefits for biodiversity:
- Its wide-open corollas from sunrise provide bees and bumblebees with a valuable resource in the early hours, before most other flowers open.
- Its dense foliage on a support provides shelter and a travel corridor for beneficial insects and birds.
Uses:
- Trellises, pergolas, fences, balconies, cascading containers, or covering tree trunks. Ideal for creating a plant screen in a single season.
Symbolism:
A flower that lasts for only one morning, morning glory symbolizes ephemeral beauty and renewal. In Japan, where it has been cultivated since the 8th century under the name asagao, it is the subject of passionate collections and exhibitions.
Harvesting your own seeds:
Allow a few flowers to form their round capsules, then harvest them once they are brown and papery, before they open. Clearly label the packet given the toxicity of the seeds. See how to store your seeds.
Commitment to Quality: at SemiSauvage - Permaculture, we grow and select our seeds with respect for living things as our guiding principle. Based near the Volcanoes of Auvergne, we choose reproducible, non-hybrid varieties, tested for their germination rate, carefully sorted and packaged, with no chemical treatment. Our belief: to give gardeners back the ability to resow, year after year, seeds that truly belong to them.
Give yourself a morning rendezvous with the purest blue in the garden.
