Morning Glory Tree Seeds

I've always loved morning glories, but in New Orleans, they can be terrible invasive & destructive. I recently learned of morning glory trees & would like to give that a try. Does anyone have any seeds they would send for a SASE?
Jo-Ann

Hi Jo-Ann! Welcome! I am not sure what cultivar of MG seeds that you are looking for. I know of a Morning Glory "bush", but not a tree. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/52996/

Do you know the specific cultivar of the plant you are looking for?

Of course I don't know what kind. I just want something that's not not a vine, either a tree or a bush. I can control a bush/tree, but not a vine down here. At this point, any cultivar would be acceptable.

Jo-Ann - I looked through my stash of seeds thinking I had some Bush MG seeds and I apparently do not. :-( Maybe someone here on this forum has some they are willing to share with you or you could try dmailing Lazlo to see if he has any seeds. http://davesgarden.com/community/trading/list.php?list=have&member=LazLo

Also, I believe that the MG vines you say take over your gardens is probably more of the wild native kind or possibly Ipomoea purpurea vines. I mainly grow Ipomoea nil vines which I don't consider aggressive or throw lots of volunteers here in zone 10a. So they probably wouldn't be aggressive in your LA zone either. Just a thought. If you want to try some I. nil seeds, dmail me.

Sorry I can't help you with the Bush MG though ... I do have one growing ... but it has yet to bloom for me. In fact it got so tall that it fell over and now it looks like I will have a row of bushes growing along my back fence. LOL! If you can't locate any seeds, keep in touch with me. Eventually mine should produce some blooms and likely seeds as well. I just don't know how long it will take for that to happen.

Here is a photo of the bush MG that fell over and now new bushes are growing up from it. I need to bury the main stem in the ground so that all of them will root. :-) I count 4 bushes that are coming off that main stem. LOL!

beckygardner, Thanks for so much info, especially about the different kinds of MG vines. As for the bush type, I've ordered some seeds from the Summer Hill Seed coop, "Morning Glory Sun Smile Violet"
Jo-Ann

This message was edited Nov 3, 2008 7:07 AM

Hi Jo-Ann, I probably have some...drop me a dmail, and we can trade

Becky What color flowers are from that bush? It looks like it's going good in shade too; I have A LOT of shady areas in my yard and could totally use a 'bush' MG that would not mind the shade. What do you think? I swear I have been in every thread this AM... I am feeling invasive, lol.
JoAnn, I hope you get the right MGbush for your area! I loved New Orleans when I was there years back!
:D

HI fernman23 and Jo-Ann . . .

I have oodles of seeds that Becky posted a photo of.

It is Ipomoea carnea.
A Perennial in zones 8 and above.

My tallest one is now at 13' this year. The other two are 12'. Three are growing together.

BTW: These guys need to be staked if you let them grow tall.
If you want them to be more of a 'bush' keep them cut back.

Cuttings will root very easily in water.

I have all three colors, but at the moment only seeds of the 'Pale Pink'
My other two plants are 'Solid White' and 'Lavender'. The 'Lavender' Form actually looks very similar to my 'Pale Pink', but the blooms are slightly larger.

Emma



This message was edited Nov 9, 2008 12:45 AM

picture is fantasic, as are the blooms! Thank you Emma for the post!~I would love to eventually, have these run along the border of my home in front of, or near my Mexican Petunias; adding a nother level of growth both in color and leaf shape Great info to know!~
:D

I have one in container , I have got a lot of blooms but no seeds .I try hand pollination with no result. Is it a trick ? The first hummingbird live 6,000 miles from here !
This pic is it the purple cultivar ?

Beckygardener wuold have to say, but they look like the same, from the leaves....BOTH have lovely flowers!!!!
:Darren

Dany, I'm sure your's is the lovely purple, here's my pink for
comparison. Emma, love your light pink

Darren - I am no expert when it comes to the Bush Morning Glory (Ipomoea carnea). This is my first year growing it too. But it is my understanding that the bush can produce one of three colors of blooms ... pink, lavender, and almost white blooms. So yes! It is possible that the blooms of those pictured above are all from I. carnea. I also believe that it easily produces seeds. :-) And it is a perennial in the warmer zones. :-)

Thanks Jackie -

I love your Darker Pink and would love seeds if you have any to share. I can also send you seeds of my Light Pink if you want.

Dany,
I have bees on my MG Trees 'constantly'. All day long and I have even seen them just as it begins to get dark still just zooming all over the plants.

Leaves will look the same on all of the cultivars. No difference that I've been able to tell with all three that I have grown.

fernman23,
if you will D-Mail me your address, I will be happy to send seeds your way.

Here is photo of one of my Lavender Form blooms from this summer

Emma

Here is a photo taken Oct. 1st with Jerry standing in front just so you can get an idea of how tall my trees get. Three Trees are directly behind Jerry plus several other plants.
Plumerias and Brugmansia are on the right and Orchid Tree Behind and on the left.

Emma

Emma, I'm hoping I will get seeds now that mine is finally blooming. It made
one seed pod last yr or the yr before and I sent all 3 seeds to a DG member.
I will put you down for the next seeds it produces.

Emma - Your bush MGs are gorgeous! WOW! Seriously ... you did something right for them to be that tall and bushy! Do they die back in the winter but come back from the roots each Spring/Summer?

Thanks Becky -
I do feed them but not heavily except in the spring. In the spring I feed them 12-24-12 fertilizer and Fish Emulsion several times from spring until summer. Sometimes I give them another 12-24-12 feeding, which I did do this year in early summer. They also seem to really like that particular spot where they are. Their trunks are quite large. Guessing 5" to 7" diameter. I have better photos that I need to locate to give you an idea of their trunks. The middle is the Mother tree, and the other two are from large rooted cuttings that I cut back last year from the Mother tree and you can hardly tell the difference in their age. These rooted cuttings were planted early spring this year, so you can see how quickly they grow. Yes, they do die back at the first frost. When I cut them back right before the frost, I always leave 3' to 4' and never cut them to the ground. However, in spring I do saw them off to the ground as that part will be dead wood, but leaving that 3' to 4' does help protect the roots until spring. I also cover them heavily with mulch over the winter.

This year they were loaded with blooms and in fact, they are still blooming.

Emma

Thanks for all the great information, Emma. I can't believe your trunks are that thick! WOWEE!

I need to get out in my back bed and cut the trunk that fell over and cut off each new growth and root in water and replant. Yours and others here have some BEAUTIFUL blooms! I so want to see some blooms on mine, too. Not this year though. :-( I will try a fertilizer such as you used. The Bloom Booster did nothing for this particular plant ...

Emma - Is that a very large moth hovering left center of the photo (?)

Good eye, Ron! I didn't even see it!

I have raised and released these moths and when they fly, they sound very much like a hummingbird. Hence the name Hummingbird Moth. :-) These large moths are what pollinate my Moonflowers. :-)

i see no moths!!!
becky how do you raise them?... it sounds facinating...

question: are ipomoea carnea self compatable with regard to pollination?

colin

Hi Ron,

Yes, it is. This photo could have been taken in late afternoon and to me it looks like a hummermoth.

BTW: Becky and all, the blooms on this plant stay open ALL DAY. Mine begin to close just before dark.

Emma

i see the moth now emma...
there was a peice in the newspapers over here during the summer about people reporting that they have seen real hummingbirds.... only to find out it's a humming moth and global warming of course.

Colin - The Hummingbird Moths that I have raised are caterpillars first of course. They eat Penta leaves. Which I have Pentas growing wild in many of my flower beds. They are huge cats and morph into large Moths when adults. Here is a photo of one that I raised. They are nicknamed Hummer Moths. They buzz me at night when I am outside taking photos of the Moonflower blooms. I think they are protecting their nectar sources. LOL! They don't do anything except fly at my head which can be a bit unsettling when you don't see them but instead hear them. LOL! I've done a little screaming from time to time when one "attacks" me! LOL! They don't hurt or anything ... just startle me! Ha, ha! And they are BIG flying bugs! LOL!

wow... that is big.... i can understand how someone might think it was a bird... we always leave a patch rosebay willowherb... tiger moths (our biggest moth) lay their eggs on them and the caterpillars are huge, green and cute... i had one as a pet for a school project once and will never forget them hanging of their crysalis shells while they filled their wings out :-)

This bad boy just morphed in the dirt. No hanging chrysalis really. It did more of the cocoon thing without the cocoon! LOL! It, too, was a cool looking cat. I can't find my caterpillar photos of it. :-( I move photos around on my hard drive trying to stay organized and then I can't find them! (sigh)

Colin,
Too bad you don't have these guys in the UK. They are just awesome. Some have a Pink coloring, which you can see in this photo.
Great photo, BTW
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/121958/


Yes, these guys are just fascinating to watch. They also love my Daturas. One of my Datura plants is very fragrant with huge blooms and they are all over it.

To me they DO look like a humming bird at night with their long [what ever it is called? Becky, what is it called?] that they stick down into the flowers for the nectar. They can take on anything huge too because it is so long.
They are also nocturnal.
Shine a flashlight on them and they go nuts and crash into walls as they can not see. They also have huge eyes. The time I shined a flashlight on them is when I was studying them and stopped when I realized what the light did to them.

Anyways, they are super neat!

Emma

Emma - The word I think that you are looking for is proboscis? The long "tongue" that the butterflies and moths sip nectar with?

They do have big eyes too! LOL! Here is a photo where you can see the eye.

Thanks Becky -
Yep that's it, I knew you would know.

Really cute little guy you have there.

Emma

These guys love the honeysuckle I have, sweet smelling and opens at night like a Moonflower.
Its great to see them lapping up the pollen in the evening under the patio lights!!! Love them~
:D

those moths are so pretty... love the markings too.... the ones that sometimes appear here are grey (see pic) and fly in the daytime... but they never get this far up so i haven't seen one :-(

edited to add... the big green caterpiller i had as a child was an elephant hawkmoth and it too hatched into a moth from a cacoon... it was caterpillars that live on nettles we did as a project at school... and i think they where butterflys anyway...lol

This message was edited Nov 12, 2008 12:04 AM

Colin -

What a cutie you have there.
Too bad they don't come to visit you. They really are delightful little guys

Emma