Morning Glories: Ipomoea purpurea X Ipomoea nil, 1 by beckygardener

beckygardener wrote:
I thought I would start a thread about crossing I. pupureas with I. nils. I remember vaguely that someone else was trying to do this too. (Sorry. I forget who it was.)

I was blessed to have some light colored seeds of I. nil shared with me this year. Which is exactly what I was needing to try this experiment. Both Mutant Blue Needle Leaf Nanding (MBNLN) and Blue Asago Willow (BAW) are I. nil vines. Both have light tan seeds.

I am growing out a Purple Flaked (PF) I. purpurea vine. Not sure of the actual ID on this vine, but the blooms are stunning!

I've been cross-pollinating the blooms of PF by hand with some of the MBNLN and BAW pollen. I collected the first two ripe seed pods from the vine today. Inside one pod was 2 dark (almost black seeds). Typical seed color for this I. purpurea. But in the other pod were 2 lighter seeds. This pod was fully ripe. So ... maybe, just may be ... a cross!!! At least that is my hope. I am going to be growing one of the lighter seeds out this winter and will save the other for Spring. :-)

I am going to have my dh rig up a shelf in my front bedroom window to attempt to grow MGs during the winter months. :-) Y'all convinced me that I should give it a go! What better vine to grow than a possible cross of I. purpurea X I. nil. :-)

So ... I figured I would start a thread about this topic. If you are also doing something similar, feel free to post your information here, too. (Or of course, you can start your own thread.)

I am very interested in doing this because the I. purpurea vines seem resistant to rust fungus which is a major problem here in Florida because of the humidity and rain. I would love to somehow create a cross between these two species that is rust resistant, but also produces some larger blooms or something really unique in the bloom color/pattern for I. purpurea. I am doing the experiment both ways, but so far have not had any pods ripen on the MBNLN and BAW vines. I am really curious as to what an I. nil pod and an I. purpurea pod will produce with such a cross. :-) I am interested to see what characteristics dominate both ways. So I have my fingers crossed that the I. nil vines will produce some dark seeds as well. :-)

Here are some of the seed pods (not yet ripe) on the Purple Flaked NOID I. purpurea vine.