Is anybody in zones 5 or 6 starting MG seeds yet?

I'm getting anxious to get started after reading everybody's posts and seeing all the great pics! Here's a pic from last year, Wine & Roses,blooming late.

Screw the flower , the foliage is totally awsaome. Frank

Nice happy looking mg there!!

I forgot to answer the question...don't have any going for transplanting outdoors, unless the ones I am growing for fun indoors will survive to Mother's Day, the safe plant out date.

Joseph

This message was edited Mar 22, 2007 8:15 PM

Frank, TOO funny! I didn't have a lot of blooms on this one till late September, which around here can be past the first frost date for the year, so having great foliage all summer was important. Here's the whole vine.

Hi revclaus,
Looks great, do you have your clematis in with the MG pot? What a great idea there, I have about 15 clematis plants now in containers waiting to go somewhere.. I would love to have them intertwine with the mgs, till they get going.

I like that.
A.

Yes, it's a new jackmanii superba I planted last year, thinking the MGs would cover the slow first year growth clematis growth, and as you can see, the MG took over! I haven't decided whether to let the clematis grow on its own this year, or whether to plant the MGs in with them.

I am in 6b, and am planting all of mine out in the ground today.

Kay - ? seed or seedlings? If you just put out the seeds did you do anything different? than you would have starting them inside?

I started my HEAVENLY BLUE about ten days ago, (zone 6), in peat pots. they are up 3 or 4 inches. My garden is teeny weeny so not sure where to put them all. The house next door is vacant! I bet I get in trouble this year! Have fun!

Would be very interested to see actual photos of the progress of any plants placed outdoors early(!) in the colder/cooler zones...

We're experiencing some climate change issues here in the Denver area, which is in 5a-b zone. Our springs have been starting earlier and earlier. Trees are leafing out, some of the early crabs are blooming. This is much earlier than even a decade ago. I've been testing the limits for the last 5 years, wondering how early tender annuals can be planted, especially MGs. I'm very tempted to plant seeds indoors now to put out in two or three weeks, which would be about two to three weeks earlier than a "normal" planting out time would be. I'm anxious to hear from other gardeners what their experience is.

I guess there is an "upside" to global warming! LOL

I'm having the same withdrawal symptoms as you are! I'm in zone 5 and am just dying to start some MGs indoors. Someone posted that their MG was 3-4 inches tall in 10 days makes me think that I still have to wait. Funny thing is that we planted about 1000 flower seeds today in anticipation of getting a cold frame. BUT... just in case we don't get the cold frame in time, I don't want to waste even one MG seed, especially the JMGs. How sad is that?

I winter sowed a bunch of seeds heavenly Blue and GrandPa Ott, and i have many seedlings.

they are about 2" tall right now, and i will wait until warmer weather to plant them out.
(we are expecting 20-40's next week)

tcs, what cute healthy looking little sprouts! I winter sowed Blue Ensign and Light Blue Flash in a large garden container this week; Blue Ensign in the middle and LBF around the edge. Hope they come up looking as nice as yours. I'm hoping they can just stay in the same container all summer.

Will be interesting to see how MG's do in our zone here. I have been warned by many zone 3er's that MG's do NOT like our cool night temps and that I should not put them out until late May or early June (our last frost date is around May 23rd). I am not sure what I'm going to do with the 25 MG's I have growing indoors under lights - they will be monstrous in 2 months. yikes.

Joanne

I'm in lower Michigan (zone 5b) and I haven't started my MGs yet. Been thinking about it though. For the past few days we've had low 30's for the highs and low 20's for the low temps - all with winds gusting to 35 mph. We're freeeeezing here!!

At least where I live, it has never been safe to put MGs outside until a week or so (after) Mother's Day. It's a real bummer to wake up in the morning and see your new little MG vines burnt and withered from frost, just because I was impatient. We just can't count on consistent temps or conditions here.

We've got a saying in here - "If you don't like the weather in Michigan, just wait a few minutes; it'll change."

~~ Glenda
PS: Here's a picture of my MGs from last year!

I stared at least 10 varities of MG indoors under grow lights.I will plant these outdoors toward the end of May.

I hear ya, Glenda! This is my first year with a greenhouse (unheated) and I was a little too overeager. I put my plants out too early. I think Wed. night might have damaged them, I hauled them all back into the basement tonight. I had a spaceheater out there, but I don't think it was big enough. Live and learn, I guess.

Here is my first ever Morning glory! Grandpa Ott. I planted the presprouted seed on March 6th.

MsKatt, oh no!! Sorry to hear that... Well, at least you still have time to grow more if you need to before we can start planting our MGs outside.

Will this February weather ever end?????? Five weeks ago, my DH and I were down in Nashville, TN. I saw folks rototilling (sp?) their gardens beds and the weather was in the 60s & 70s. ...Why are we living here in Michigan???

i have 2 containers that i winter sowed MG's in. Since it was getting really cold, i took the uncovered one and put it in my sun room, which is not heated. Checked the next day (though i did not look at the thermometer in the room) but they were all wilty, and sad looking. SO i brought them and put them in the DR window, which is southern exposure... the perked right back up, though i did lose 3 lil babies. the other container, even though there were looking OK, and they were covered - so more protected from the cold... I brought them inside too. Hopefully mid-week i can put them back out again.

this was my first year with MG's and hope they do very well.... but for next year, i will start them later... I just wanted them to have a good "jump" on the season.

I haven't started any yet. I don't plant MGs safely outside until early June. If I start them early indoors they don't bloom any sooner than if I direct sow in June so I just usually direct sow. We're suppose to get some snow in the next day or two....SPRING where art thou?!

Sandy

OH i checked the temp in that room, it was 22 degrees. since bringing them in, 3 died, and the rest have perked back up and re even growing... about to send up next set of leaves.

Sandy -- i know what you mean about where is Spring.... it is FREEZING here. the winds are a real killer out of the north.

Spring! Today it's 26, we've got snow, and cold weather till who knows when. MGs are just a thought right now. I'll plant when it's warmer!

I planted MG's back in late March. They came up and looked as if they had a great start. Then came the Easter freeze and got them all. Now I have started over and mine are about 2 inches tall..........zone 6.

This is my first time to grow them. How long from germination till I should expect to see the first blooms ?

I also have moon-flower planted and up. Seems like I heard they take a little longer to bloom ? ? ?

here are mine about 3 weeks after the last photo was taken.... they are getting huge, and i really need to transplant them.

Wow, tcs, is your weather ready for MGs?

Peggie, my moonflowers didn't begin to bloom till early September!

revclaus.... I dont think so. I asked in a different thread, and was told i could plant out at the end of may.
these things will be enormous by then.... some are already a foot long (tall).

I was thinking to plant a few next week and see how they do... i have plenty that if i lose a few, I still have a ton left (I think i have over 40 right now)

I am begining to think we are going to have to put out some smudge pots so we can get a normal growing season in. Where oh where did that global warming go, or was that just another one of those fads with buzz words?
It must have been one of those fads where you put on your shades and say buzz words, and you are kool. It is less than 3 weeks til the middle of may and Mothers day. Thats not long Frank

It'll be the first of May tomorrow, and it's been pretty warm around here. But I'm still afraid to sow them outdoors. Maybe another couple of weeks?

We're past our historical last freeze date here on the valley floor. I have been moving my plants from the greenhouse to outside and to their permanent location.

Here's my first MG bloom...ever! I have quite a few with buds on them. This is from my MG that got nipped by frost.

And a bud... :) I wish I could plant them out right now.

That's gorgeous! I'm still waiting for the weather to warm up enough to plant seeds. The soil is supposed to be 68F before planting, but mine isn't anywhere near that. When did you plant the seeds?

I planted the seeds on March 6th. I had them under growlights in the basement and moved them to my unheated greenhouse the first week of April. That was a mistake...the temps dropped into the teens! I moved them back to the basement and finally back out to the greenhouse a week ago. The bloom is "Grandpa Ott".

I'm in USDA zone 6,Arbor Day zone 7. I soaked my seeds for twenty four hours and planted them outside last week. I have an eight foot wide grid mounted on a privacy fence. I planted Heavenly Blue on one end, Star of Yelta on the other end and moon flowers in the middle. I have done the same planting for several years and it makes quite a display. One year I even added in hyacinth beans.
Note: Arbor Day recently posted a new zone map.

Rocco, how many plants in your 8ft grid??

Michelle

Michelle
The plants haven't emerged yet. The MG seeds were Ferry Morse and I planted all of the seeds in both packets at each end of the bed. I probably planted twenty of the moon flowers seeds in the middle. The moonflower seeds were from last year's plants. The Star of Yelta's blooms last much longer during the day than the Heavenly Blue. After the plants emerge and if they are very crowded, I often remove some of them.

This message was edited May 3, 2007 4:31 PM

Any pics?

This photo showing a morning glory,moonflower and hyacinth bean combination was taken in 2006. The morning glory in the photo is a heavenly blue. The bean plant has pink flowers in addition to the purple beans. I like combinations and have a Joseph's coat climbing rose and a jackmanii clematis planted together. The rose is blooming now,the clematis will arrive a little later.

That's lovely! Thanks.