I go past this ravine every year around this time just to look at tall the morning glory flowers. It is amazing. The actual size is hard to convey via photos. I do not even show the right side of the ravine that is covered with them too.
I thought some might like to see it.
This is the long shot from the overpass bridge.
They extend much futher than the picture shows. Just a solid blanket of morning glories.
Here is a pic using my zoom to see the far end where it is covering all the huge trees.
Closer zoom.
And even closer. Just amazing.
Then about 1 hour later I was on a dead end street taking pics of someone's yard and I noticed morning glory flowers at the end of the block. I walked down and realized I was about 3 blocks back from the overpass I took the original pictures from. Here, all this way away, the morning glory was still growing and covering everything in its path.
It is just so invasive here.
Is that the perennial one?
I've got mine in a pot but it keeps trying to escape
Its like the kudzu of California
LOL CC. Yes, it is. I have one in a pot here too. And I moved the pot last month and the thing had sent out runners to the back. It had rooted in a half inch space between the concrete and the fence all the way along. I had lots of runners. Some even went into other pots. So it is not only invasive but sneaky too. I live in fear some is still growing on the neighbors side of the fence, soon to take out my house. My husband will never forgive me.
Mine is trained up a umbrella shaped metal form that goes up about 6 feet.
I've got mine on a ball shaped form
looks VERY lopsided!
The wind keeps blowing it over
I may drop the pot in the ground,the runners ,if they escape,won't make it thru my winter
Just gotta watch what it attacks this summer......
I'm having very few blooms though
Yours is wonderful
Two words....
HOLY CAMOLY !!!!!!!
That's scary!
:) Donna
I knew there was a reason I never liked morning glory! I think it would take over Houston too or perhaps be the vine that "ate" Houston. Are those the typical morning glories people grow or do you know?
No, this one is a perennial one that is popular here in No. California where it can winter over. You can see them along the freeway spilling over the freeway walls. They get so massive. I will say they bloom nonstop and are quite a sight. But not for the garden!! I grow one in a pot and it is a bright spot on my courtyard.
It is called the blue dawn flower, or evergreen morning glory, Ipomoea indica. It comes back every year even if it freezes if not to bad.
I've seen it where it's taken over an area, but nothing like that! I think it's because it does die back here in the winter, even in zone 9. California may have mild enough winters that the vine keeps on growing and growing and growing...Mine is planted on my mailbox and has sent out runners, but it hasn't had much luck overrunning the neighborhood yet. It completely froze back to the ground last winter.
Ours grows on a Tuteur my DH made. We planted them years ago and they keep reseeding. Now they've invaded all the daylilies along the fence and gotten into the vegetable garden. Every single day when I deadhead the daylilies I have to also go in the vegetable garden to get them all along with new seedlings of the morning glory. I just wonder if we can ever eliminate it?
Think I'm going to have nightmares tonite!!!!
I'm afraid I'll wake up in the morning with a huge pod laying next to me!!!!
Wow, Kell. The Morning Glory that ate California. That's like the kudzu here in the south.
Pirl I think your MG may be another kind. This one does not make seeds that I have ever seen but spreads thru long runners, and I mean long!!! I have had your problem also with regular annual MGs, they do reseed freely. I got good at recognizing the seedlings from a distance and would hurry to yank them.
Ada, I have seen it when 3 houses on a block together were covered with them. They were rentals and no one was caring much. What a sight. The windows and all.......................
That's the way kudzu does here in the south if it isn't kept cut back.
I feel terribly sorry for those big trees. They are probably screaming for sunlight. I am struggling with bindweed, as some of you know and have given me advice, and I'm finding the most effective way to kill it is by injecting weed killer directly into the stem with a syringe and needle. Since miles of it is all connected, it is turning out to be fairly effective. Speaking of which, directly injecting crossbow into blackberry stalks is quite effective, too! I feel sad to kill the bindweed because it produces such lovely white flowers, but it is so invasive I just don't have much choice :-(
Ajensen, I was struck by what you said about the bindweed and the blackberry stalks. We have both of these in our garden, and haven't found anything that eliminates them yet. The "lethal injection" idea is exciting!
Where do you get the syringe and needle? Could you get one at a feed store (like the kind you use to do your own yearly injections for your pets)? And is there a time of year when it is more effective to do this?
This is the kind of MG nightmare that my mom warned me of when I first mentioned that I wanted to grow them. Most of mine are in containers but I do have a few Star of Yelta climbing our fence. Let's hope they don't get out of hand.
The MG in Ca. look like kudzu in N. Ga. The flowers are pretty. I have my first MG, given to me by the lady at the nursery this summer. They were very large there, and I commented on how pretty they were, she gave me one and I am keeping it in a pot. They will not overwinter here, only the wild ones that I haven't seen bloom.
At least you have flowers to look at. I am in a constant fight with the air potato and can't even enjoy blooms while doing it. Just an occasional bop on the head from a potato falling.
Am I missing something here?? Air potatoes?
If I'm having an airhead moment I'm sorry, but I'm confused
Janis
Janis,
Don't blame yourself for being another year older (Happy Birthday on a public forum) because I have no idea what an air potato is either!
Arlene*
*I have visions of going into the produce store and selecting potatoes from the air!
ha ha ha, that's funny (or maybe not so funny to you), budgielover. At least air potatoes are not heavy and spiky like the pinecones that drop on my roof and deck.
Janis, here's a link to air potato http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AG112
Sure am glad I don't live in FL.
What an education I'm getting here at Dave's Garden. Air potatoes, what next?
Thanks for the birthday wishes Arlene :)
You're gonna have dmail shortly :)
Thanks to Quyen for the air potato link, I really thought I was missing a joke LOL
Arlene, when we run of room to put things here, we mime throwing them up into the air and "turning the air off" LOL
Janis
I'm with you Janis - still sounds so strange but the pictures helped!
I like your way of dealing with things! No turning the air off for us today! They say this weekend will bring better weather: excuse me - it could hardly be worse. From inside it looks so sunny and breezy but it's still horrible out there.
Air potatoes are actually true yams, and some species are eaten for food. My best friend used to have a neighbor from the Islands that grew them for food. They would peel them and soak them in lemon juice to get the slime off them, then boil them down like a potato. They weren't bad, actually, since they have the same texture. What was amazing was the tuber the man dug up--the thing weighed about 50 lbs!! He stored it outside, and when they needed some, he'd just go hack a piece off it! You had to see it to believe it.
Terracotta,
Yes, you can get needles and syringes at a feedstore. It is kind of difficult to get the poison injected into the tiny bindweed stalk, but it is do-able. You need a small needle, no bigger than a 20 guage, preferably a 25. But to get through tough blackberry stalks (if you have the big guys), you need a bigger needle. I have used an 18 guage with some success but prefer to use a 16 for the tough ones. Another method that I like to do on the blackberries is to actually cut it short first, let its juices drain for a few minutes, then inject down into the cut rather than clog my needle with the stalk skin. Needle lasts for more stalks that way. The injection should be done near the roots rather than out at the ends. I hope this works for you!
Andrea
Wow...What an amazing sight.
We have Morning Glories here, they take over the trees, the weeds, even smother out cattails!! There are a bunch of native ones growing all around the area, they can be invasive too. I'm very hesitant about planting Morning Glories here in case they hybridize with the natives and produce a "Super Glory" lol!
Andrea, thank you so much for your advice re injecting bindweed and the wild blackberry vines with weed killer. I will definitely try this method with the blackberries. [After I harvest them, of course. :-) I just noticed today that there are quite a few berries out there.] Unfortunately, the horribly prickly vines are mixed into my shrubbery and flower beds and they grow a mile a minute. I will inject them with pleasure and an evil laugh. Nnnaah ha ha! By the way, what's your weedkiller of choice? The rest of our garden is organic (which shows I'm at the end of my rope to even consider plant death by lethal injection), and I hope there's something I can use that affects only the plants I inject.
If this technique works on the blackberries, I might give it a go on the bindweed, although it seems rather fiddly. Gee, you must have very steady hands to be able to inject a bindweed stem! Are you a surgeon?
I was going to try to "paint" round up on bindweed but the needles sound like a great alternitive
I am going to try that and see how it works
OMG that is just nutty,, beautiful ,, but I would go nutty with all them
Terracotta,
Funny... no, not a surgeon! Just a vet student... maybe I will be a surgeon when all is said and done. It IS tricky with the little stems. I wear a glove on my left hand so I don't stab myself, lay the vine over my finger tips, steady with my thumb, and slide the needle with my right hand into the vine with the bevel facing up just like you would to hit a vein. Then you have to run the needle up the stem a bit to open it up, then back up leaving an open pocket to inject the stuff into. If you have trouble, I liked someone else's suggestion to take the end of the vine and soak it in a jar of systemic killer for a few hours and let it absorb. That should work just as well, I would think, but I was worried a neighbor dog would knock it over or something so I went to the needle. I doubt it much matters which weed killer you choose, but I've had success with Crossbow. I have not done any actual research on chemicals and toxicities myself, but I have found that the commercial "ready to use" stuff is already diluted too much to be very effective for tough weeds like blackberries. And as long as it isn't sprayed all over the area, it shouldn't harm birds or pets. Sounds like Ron knows more about the safety issue than I do... ya out there Ron to help Terracotta with this one?
Andrea
Disclaimer req'd!
I just started lethal injections this season. I'll let you know if they all grow back in a few months but common sense tells me that if they are all dying of a systemic then the roots must be going, too! I don't let the flowers go to seed, so I am hopeful that this will be very effective for permanent removal in two season or less. Fingers crossed!
Andrea
