This baby showed up in my daylily garden a few weeks ago. It had just started coming up and I noticed it had a purple stem, unlike most of the MG that grow around here. So I carefully uprooted it and took pics of it, then potted it up. It began blooming last night. I can't quite seem to capture the true colors of it though. The daylight pics are too red and the night shots aren't red enough. Can't seem to win. The actual flower is a dark violet with dark red, almost claret ribs.
The full length showing the leaves
Here is a shot that I took last night...
Here is a shot of the MG when I first dug it out of my daylily garden. My camera doesn't take god closeups, so it is a little blurry. Notice the underside of the leaves are alos purplish.
This message was edited Nov 4, 2006 7:21 AM
Ha! Finally got some better pics of it.
These show the color much better. Odd how the light can make so much difference...
And here is a shot that shows how the bottom leaves have a sprinkling of purple on them, while the stems and vines are purple...
it reminds me of my Tall MGs that we have had blooming most of the summer. The seed packet has mixed colors in it... your deep blue to purple, the fuschia and a lavender. Beautiful plant.
Great luck, enjoy!
There are three cultivars of MG that grow wild here. One is a lavender and mauve, one is a dark coral, the other is a blue/purple/white tricolor--sort of like Indica, but does not seed. When I saw the purple on the backs of the early leaves and the stems, I knew it wasn't the lavender or the coral. I was kind of hoping it would be the tricolor. But I was pleasantly surprised when this baby bloomed. I have no idea where it came from...my guess is that either one of the seeds that I was trying to grow this summer somehow got transported from the nursery area to the front bed...or a bird transported a seed it in the 'usual fashion'.
Here is a photo of the other MG that grows wild here but does not seed. The picture is a little washed out. The colors are a bit more intense than what shows up here, but you can see that it is a nice tricolor. This plant was growing behind my dad's childhood home last year. I went back to try to get some of it after I moved down here, but they had cleared it out and I couldn't find any of it. Last year when it was growing so heavily, it was late September, so I might be able to go find some if I go in the next couple of weeks before a heavy frost hits.
BamaBelle - As I had shared with you in our Davesmails when you first showed me the little sprout...the plant here
Ipomoea purpurea
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/BamaBelle_1162646058_467.jpg
is an Ipomoea purpurea
The plant here is an Ipomoea indica as can be seen by the long sepals at the base of the flower
http://pics.davesgarden.com/pics/BamaBelle_1162652827_840.jpg
Other Ipomoea indica in the PlantFiles
Ipomoea indica sepals
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/126359/
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/105125/
Ipomoea tricolor sepals
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/106781/
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/89823/
Glad to see that your Ipomoea purpurea has blooms and that you've noticed that the stem and other parts have pigmentation on them...pigmentation on the stem is most often associated with darker colored flowers...
TTY,...
Ron
Thanks a million, Ron...it is a stunning plant. Definitely a keeper! It just showed up in my daylily bed 9/05 and I potted it up because I could tell it was different from the other MGs that grow wild around here. I hope it will set seed.
Very striking, BamaBelle!!
:) Donna
A lovely morning glory.
Can you belive that bloom is still open??? It has been open now for 30 hours...and it was a sunny day. I did see a lot of bee activity around it today, so I am hoping it will set seeds. Also it looks like it might have a couple more buds that will open soon. Hopefully I will get seeds before a bad frost comes...or if it does frost, maybe I can find a way to protect it without the cats making an Ipomea Salad......
BamaBelle - Your MG is in a container,right(?)...bring the container inside and place it in a sunny window to continue to ripen indoors before(!) a frost kills it...
TTY,...
Ron
Looks like your volunteer survived transplantation just fine!
Yep, it is in a container...but my cats eat every piece of greenery I bring in the house. I had thought about putting my plants in the guest room and closing it off, but we live in an old wood frame house in the coutry and we get mice in the winter...so if I close a room off, it will be overrun with mice in a short time...so that isn't the answer either. I tried hanging plants from a tall pole where they couldn't reach it...and they were able to jump up and knock the whole thing over anyway.
I do have a possible alternative, though...I have a shed with a window that gets some sun inside it and, although the shed has openings at the top, under the eaves, it stays warm enough down here that if I put stuff in the shed during a heavy frost, it should be fine. (knock on wood)
I don't have cats....but MG leaves are all poisonous so maybe the cats (and rats) will leave them alone?
The mice might, but my cats aren't smart enough. (Actually, I'm not so sure about the mice, either...I planted Castor beans by the kitchen, where the mice usually come in, since field mice eat roots and castor bean roots are poisonus...one of the castor beans got its roots eaten and died...) They are all house cats and don't care if something is bad for them...if it is green, they will eat it. They will jump from the floor and hang by thier toes to try to get to a vase that is on the top of the amoire. They will jump up and grab the bottom of a hanging plant until both they and the plant land on the floor in a mess of soil, greenery and fur. The will rip plnants from pots and hide them...leaving me wondering whre the potted plant is htat I just put in the window five mintues ago...and will walk by doing the kitty equivalent of whistling in innocence as I search for the bereft plant. There is a reason our 'youngest' is named Lucy Furr.......
HMMMM....Glad I don't have cats!!! I have seven dogs but none of them bother the plants.
Although it might sound mean, have you tried the old spray bottle of water whenever they go near the plants. Mine never touch anything that they were sprayed for once/
Just a thought.
Oh yeah....we have done the spray bottle thing. All it does is teach them not to mess with stuff if we are in the room. And sicne they don't normally bother the plants till we leave the house or are in bed, it wouldn't do a bit of good. I've got some really smart cats...well, except Hobie. She is so stupid that when we sprayed her with water, she never figured out where the water was coming from or even what it was. In fact, she is so dumb that Meezer likes to open cabinets and lure her inside...and she is too dingy to realize that all she has to do is push against the cabinet door to get out. Meanwhile, Meezer will sit outside the cabinet and laugh his tail off. In fact, if we see Meezer sitting outside a closed cabinet, we know that Meezer has lured his sister inside and she can't figure out how to get out. We also have to do head counts every so often...if we dont' see her for a couple of hours, we have to go checking cabinets...because if Mezer gets bored with laughing at her, he will walk away and leave her 'trapped' inside the cabinet. She has been known to stay inside one for hours before someone noticed her missing....or finally heard her crying. Obviously, we can't go on trips either, unless we take the kitties with us.
That's toooooo funny....lol!
Sheesh, it sounds like my Booboo. The little girl with malformed front legs. She's very talented at opening the cabinets also and her preference is for the bathroom vanity. She chooses to go in there, naps and will be gone for half the day. When she gets hungry or needs her litter box, suddenly there's a bang as she sort of throws herfelf against the closed door and it flies open against the wall. One time door re-shut and then she started crying, thinking she couldn't get out on her own. No closet door can be left even a crack open or she will squeeze in and tuck herself against the back wall for a nice nap. She's a cry baby when not hiding if she isn't getting attention. Weirdo, absolutely. That's why she fits in here.
Boo is the white and black, Fat was the love of my life who I lost earlier this year. I was about to throw out an old leather suitcase, but the kitties appropriated it before I got it out. So I kept it for them and they often tucked in together. Without Fat, Boo never uses it anymore.
and this is Sammy, the large stray girl who came to live with us about 4 months ago.
Jude,
You are as bad as we are. We ahve five cats...and we feed about four neighborhood cats. We dont' mind...we live out in the country (sort of) and it helps keep the mice population down. What I DO mind, though, is when the neighbor's Jack Russell gets out and eats all the cat food. ARGH!
The babies in the suitcase ore precious. I keep my suitcase unzipped in the closet becuase my babies like to nap in it. Of course, when I go on a trip, I have to take the lint brush to the inside...but what the heck...everythign I own is covered with cat fur anyway. It is theri way of beign with me all dy, even when I am not home.
BammaBelle, The purple on the leaves is sometimes due to the deficiency of phosphorus. Phosphorus is very important for root growth and flower and seed production.
I have cats also. Could you put a hook in the ceiling and hang the plant form that? You could buy a bird cage and put the plant in that also.
Cats inside and dogs outside. I have a terrible time gardening also. LOL
