Favorite Flowers: Morning Glories

"Carnival" morning glory

Allergy Index Scale:  4
Annual
Full sun, 6-12' tall

Morning glories grow pretty quickly, so they're great for covering a lot of the homely chain link fence around my yard every summer. Mine usually start flowering in July, and continue through the rest of the summer.  The flowers may be white, blue, pink or purple, and may have stripes or splashes of color, or picotee edges. Each flower lasts only a day. They attract both hummingbirds and butterflies.

Morning glories need little fertilizer, as that will encourage lots of foliage but fewer flowers. Plant them where they will get lots of sun, though they will tolerate very light shade.

I start mine from seed each year.  Soak the seeds overnight before planting them, or nick the seed with a file. Morning glories don't like to be transplanted, so either plant them directly in the garden after all danger of frost is past, or start them in peat pots that can be planted pot and all, not disturbing the roots.

Morning glories on the mailbox

Earlier this evening I collected the seed pods from the morning glories on my front fence.  When the seeds have matured, the pods turn brown and papery.

Around here, the old-fashioned annual morning glories, like Grandpa Ott's, may reseed themselves. 

The name morning glory is also sometimes used to refer to the invasive perennial weed, field bindweed.  This is not the same as the annual tropical plant described above. I understand that in warmer areas, even the annual morning glory can reseed and grow so vigorously that it can be invasive.  Fortunately, its seedlings are easy to pull up.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

At the top of posts about plants, you will notice the "allergy index scale" rating for each plant I discuss.  The Ogren Plant Allergy Scale rates the allergy potential of a plant, but of course does not indicate whether you or anyone else actually is allergic to it.  In this scale, 1 is the best rating, with the least potential to cause allergic reactions; and 10 is the worst rating, with the most potential to cause allergic reactions. Morning glories are rated 4. The funnel-shaped flowers put off little pollen, so they are a pretty safe low-allergy choice as far as pollen allergies go, but some people are sensitive to touching the leaves.