Morning Glories 2009 #20

Here's a closer look at those I. indica blooms. :-)

Here's a Mauve Splash bloom. It's one of the few vines still blooming even with the rust damage.

And I thought I would finally show y'all a photo of the arbor that my dh and I made for my class butterfly garden at the school. I will be adding plants to it over time. Right now the 3 bushes are in and planted behind the arbor. They are small, but will grow quickly. There is red porterweed, cassia, and a purple butterfly bush. In the front is red salvia, white pentas, and purple verbena. The blue blooming Plumbago growing under the window was planted by our class a couple of years ago and it is now a hedge! :-)

I hope to show a photo in the Spring when the plants are all bigger. There are two different Passiflora (maypop) growing on the arbor. One has purple blooms and the other white. The cassia and passiflora are host plants for different butterflies. The rest are nectar plants. So we are off to a good start in our class garden bed. There is another bed that has the 3-tiered beds which I will be adding plants to soon as well. The arbor cost me about $25 to build. :-)

Needless to say at my house ... my hummer stays here year round or at least I have a hummer always in my yard. Perhaps more than one and they come and go throughout the entire year. But there is always one everyday that I see in that section of my yard with all the red blooming plants. The orange-red blooms on the tree are Coral Honeysuckle trained as a standard. I am training another one on the opposite side of my backyard. The hummers love those blooms. Also red Firespike and Red Shrimp Plant. All good hummer and butterfly nectar plants. :-) It is looking how I envisioned it 4-5 years ago when I planted or grew all those plants! :-)

Ahhhh! This is the life! The only bummer is the upcoming time change. It will be dark in the morning now when I leave for work, so won't be able to see the MG blooms if there are any. :-(

Becky, green with envy here.. how beautiful everything is at your place!
cold wet dark and rainy here...
love the arbour... think i will have to try building one of those this next spring..

Debra - Thanks! We secured the arbor with concrete. Used a post hole digger to bury the post about 18" deep. We used cattle panels (that shouldn't rust) that were 16' x 2' wide. Narrow, but tall arbor. I can't believe how cheap we built it! I got enough material to build one in my home yard, too! :-) Everyone at the school really loves the renovated garden now! They want me to provide some seating. I might look into how much concrete bench molds would cost. I could make them cheap if I did it myself, and could use the molds over and over for my own use as well, too! :-)

Becky, really nice arbor.

Well done Becky and dh! I have been waiting to see this one, looks great! I'm making benches from an old
cherry tree I took out last spring, sawing is hard work! But free!!!!!!!

Jon

Love your Indida, Mauve Splash Becky and your garden looks great. You did an awesome job on the arbor and school garden!

The vines of Joyce Cobb came from seeds that Dany sent me. I have 3 vines growing together and the other has the dark blooms, they're mixed so don't know which is the light one.

Joyce Cobb a little after mid morning.

Becky, love your wide angle shot with the red and orange blooms and especially the blue of indica. Mauve Splash is a real beauty

Helena, love the Joyce Cobb with visitor.

I like them both (pics)
The color on both is beautiful.
Charleen

The Skipper is certainly enjoying the pretty bloom. The Butterfly Arbor looks wonderful, Becky. Here is a new one from this morning.

This one under flash.

Thanks Jon, Jackie, Helena, Charleen, and Gardenpom!

Jon - Would love to see your Cherry Tree bench when you finish it! Sounds great!

Helena - It always amazes me how many variations of a cultivar there are! Your Joyce Cobb blooms are quite eye-pleasing! :-) Love the little Skipper Butterfly on your JC bloom!

Gardenpom - Aren't those blooms pretty!!!! I love the second one with the shimmery color! Using the flash can sure produce some neat photos! :-)

Here is close up of MG tree.
RRM

Charleen - I am pretty positive that it is an I. carnea MG bush/tree! Nice bloom! I have been collecting a few seeds off of mine. I don't get that many seeds for all the blooms. And I don't hand-pollinate it, so the bees, butterflies, etc. don't always seem interested in it. But I do see ants on it all the time. :-) Mine is slow growing too.

This is a photo of a several ripening seed pods from my Alamo Vine (Merremia dissecta). They look like unripe little cherry tomatoes and are quite large considering how small the blooms are! I love this vine!!! I am collecting seeds from this vine for the group seed swap! So far, so good!

This is why I like the Alamo Vine (Merremia dissecta)! Beautiful leaves! The blooms are sweet, but small. :-)

I have my Alamo Vine in a very small pot and I think that has dwarfed it because there is no room for the roots to expand. So this vine is staying compact.

Here is a photo of the Yellow Chinese Evening Glory (on the left). That vine just keeps growing and growing, but I've yet to see a single flower bud on it. I am also wondering if this is a perennial vine or an annual. It looks and acts like a perennial. I am really thinking that it will bloom if the weather ever turns cooler. Since no one really knows much about this vine, it's habits are a mystery which I hope will continue to unfold. :-)

You can see the difference in size in these two vines that were started from seed at the same time. Small pot, small vine. Larger pot, larger vine! LOL!

Much to my delight ... I woke up to lots of blooms on my vines today! The vines are covered in rust fungus. The fungus finally won! It's that time of year! (sigh) Spring is always much better ...

These are blooms on Diluted Fuji no Muraski. Not a single seed pod formed and ripened on this vine. Nadda! Grrrrr ...

This message was edited Nov 1, 2009 10:39 AM

Blue/Purple Henka Shibori bloom. This one produces 3 - 4 blooms each day, but it's on it's way out.

Mavue Splash produced some really interesting blooms today.

This is a star pattern.

This is a blizzard and block color bloom.

This is a bloom I would call, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". Seems this bloom has two personalities and can't decide which one it wants to be, so it produced both patterns on a single bloom! Pretty cool, huh?!!! :-)

And here is another bloom on Mauve Splash that is showing the true color of these blooms as the sun hits it. The 3 photos above are in the pre-sun shadows. This is showing the star AND blizzard pattern on one bloom. Pretty cool blooms on this vine today! Surprises are fun!

Sazanami bloom at the top of the vine.

Nice contrast between the bright blue of Blue Dawn (I. indica) and the orange of the Cape Honeysuckle! The teacher I work with would call it Gator colors for the Florida Gators College football team ... where she graduated with her teaching degree! LOL!

Lots of Spanish Flag blooms, but not a single seed pod forming! Grrrr ...

Must be something about my yard, climate, or plant care!!! (sigh)

I have the vase on the front window sill trying to get these cuttings to root of I. indica (Blue Dawn). Well, wouldn't ya know it ... one of the cuttings bloomed today! LOL!

I loved the picture -all of them.
I didn't know you could sprount MG cuttings.
Is the Cape Honey suckle a vine or shrub?
Very beautiful blooms.
Charleen

I really like your cinese yellow morning glory.. mine did nothing and I am very dissapointed..
Love the "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde".

I also love the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. All your blooms are
lovely Becky.
Wish I could get my ochracea to bloom, it hasn't for 3 yrs.
It needs fresh potting mix for one thing.
I think your Chinese Evening glory/yellow will bloom this winter. Can't wait to see those beautiful blooms.

The Blues.

Charleen - I don't know if all MGs would grow from cuttings being rooted in water. I suppose that the perennial MGs would. Not sure about annuals. I do know that you can keep annual cuttings in water to get the seed pods to ripen, but I have never noticed roots forming on any I. nil cuttings. The I. indica apparently is a very vigorous vine and will definitely root in water. :-)

Thanks y'all! I, too, very much liked the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde bloom today! Never a dull moment growing MGs! :-)

Debra - Did your Yellow Chinese Evening Glory die?

Jackie - I bet your ochracea would bloom if you did repot it and refresh it's soil. Does it have a tuber?

Gardenpom - I love your blue blooms! Very pretty! You are so lucky that you aren't dealing with rust fungus. I get it on my vines every year in the Fall. :-(

Gardenpom your blues are awsome..
Becky, yes i guess it did, I sure never saw anything come of it while it was outside

Becky, I don't know if it has a tuber. I never noticed one when I repotted it a few yrs ago. It's back in the ghouse now for the winter.
If I get a chance to repot it will check for a tuber.
It's climbed 2 bamboo poles, one not showing.

lovely blooms everyone, thankyou :)

my chinese evening glory had a few flower buds forming, but they dried up and fell of when i moved it indoors!!

Beautiful blooms Becky and Teresa.

Jackie, I bet you can get your ochracea to bloom especially if your ghouse is heated. I grew one in 97 and kept it in a pot in my makeshift ghouse with just heat lamp & growing light from fall to spring. It did have a couple of blooms finally in the spring though they were on the small size. My plant dried up and I gave up on it, wish I knew about the tubers. The seeds of ochracea have to be nicked and soaked or they will not sprout, been there & done that!

Colin - The Chinese Evening Glory that you had ... was it the seeds that several of us bought on ebay at about the same time? Is it the same as mine - by looking at the leaves? Mine seems to be very healthy, but not a bud in sight. I can't figure that out. I was wondering if it is like some plants and have to be two years old before it blooms. It took 2 years for one of my Sweet Autumn Clematis to bloom, the other still hasn't bloomed (and it is actually older by 7 months). Since we know so little about this cultivar, I don't know what to expect.

Helena - Your ochracea vine has leaves that look a little bit similiar to my YCEG leaves. Not quite the same, but very similiar. Did it bloom the first year you grew it from seed? Nice little yellow bloom! :-)

Jackie - If the soil is leached of all nutrients, that is probably why it hasn't bloomed. So you are probably right that if you change the soil, it may put on a show for you! :-) I am thinking maybe I need to move my YCEG into a bigger pot with fresh soil as well. But I don't think it is the soil. I think it might be some sort of timing for the vine to bloom. All I know ... I am waiting patiently. :-)

Helena, yes my g house is heated. Ochracea bloomed beautifully
down there in 2006. My pics are on the stick mule which won't load now.
I don't know what's up with that.
Becky, it's the same pot and soil from the last time I repotted in 06
so I'm sure all the nutrients are leached out. I almost lost it last winter or the winter before and was afraid to mess with it. Just one stem coming out of the dirt. Afraid I'm going to do something silly like break my stem.
I might take a digging tool and see how far down I can scoop the roots.
The roots have not filled up the pot, they're just kind of meandering
around down in the soil. lol

One of my feathered hige's from Emma finally feathered with this bloom. In a tiny 3 in pot.