Morning Glories: Morning Glories 2007 # 19, 1 by bluespiral

bluespiral wrote:
Thanks, Jo. One thing about Velvet Plum - it's not like the shorter, less exuberant Ipomoea nils. Being an Ipomoea youjiro, Velvet Plum is like a nil on steroids - this is one huge monster of a vine. If you grow it in a pot, you might want to be ready with your nipping skills; that is, be ready to nip it when it gets to the top of its support. There will be lots of vigorous side shoots after that top nip to wrap around the supports - you may want to nip those back, too. To tell a tall tale - if that deer had stood still a moment longer to snack on this vine, the vine would have been snacking on it!

Here's Ipomoea purpurea 'Indigo Feathers' just as sun hits it in the morning. It's actually a deep, dark velvety purple. Speaking about traits good for the gardener to be prepared about, this vine, like other I. purpureas I have grown, can take a surprising amount of shade. Here it is beneath a monster silver maple with a monster mulberry taking up the slack in the understory -