Ipomoea Species, Morning Glory, Bush Morning Glory, Man Root, Bush Moon Flower, Old-Man-of-the-Earth

I have grown ipomoea leptophylla (bush morning glory) in Fargo, ND with great success. I planted 3 small roots next to our house 15 years...Read More ago. We regularly get down to -30 F every winter, hence planting on the south side close to the house. Our soil is heavy with a lot of clay, so I dug holes 2 1/2 feet deep and filled them with a mixture of sand, gravel and potting soil. After about 5 years I had large nice plants (only two survived). One has many stems about 5 feet long that are covered with nice pink flowers about 4 inches across, the other one is much smaller with 3 inch flowers. These plants are slow to reach maturity, but the hundreds of flowers make it worthwhile. So far both plants get a bit larger each year. These are not flowers for a small garden. I confine the large one with a wire cage 5 feet high so it doesn't sprawl across the patio. If you want seeds you need at least 2 plants (no self polination). I plan to plant a couple of small plants away from the house to seen if they survive.

I've been growing Ipomoea leptophylla in the ground for 17 years, during which it has experienced a low of -13oF (-25oC) without damage. ...Read More Of course, the enormous roots delve deeply, below any frost.. It is deciduous; blooming period is June through August. The flowers are somewhat scattered, but are large and a vibrant blue-purple. It is not to be moved, so choose its spot wisely, bearing in mind that it sprawls without support. I use a rose bush for that purpose, to fairly good effect.
JJ

This striking plant is not really a bush but many arching stems forming a dense mound.

Large pink flowers bloom in the coo...Read Moreler part of the day usually late spring to early summer. They prefer sandy soil, full sun and periodic deep watering. They die back to the ground in mid-summer.

I have not grown this plant. Man root, bush morning glory (Ipomoea leptophylla) is also commonly known as bush moonflower, man of the ear...Read Moreth, big-root morning-glory and tumbleweed morning glory (the top of the plant may break off and blow in the wind). A deciduous perennial, it is native to Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming. It grows in sandy or gravelly soils on prairies, sandhills prairie, plains, meadows, pastures, savannahs, roadsides and dunes; however, it is adaptable well drained to garden soils. In cultivation if planted in clay, be sure that the be sure that water does not stand in the area in winter because the root may rot.

Bush morning glory has an erect to decumbent habit with stems that are bushy, branching and glabrous. It is 1.5 to 4 feet tall with it typically being 3 feet (90 cm) tall and wide. The willow-like, short-stalked, entire leaf blades are linear to narrowly lanceolate. They are glabrous, 2 to 6 inches long, less than 1/3 inch wide and have tips tapering to points.

Bush morning glory is related to the sweet potato. It has a large, edible up to 4 feet long, up to 1 foot in diameter taproot that can weigh 20 to 40 lbs. The taproot is bitter when raw. The root is very cold hardy and bush morning glory is very drought-tolerant due to its large root system. The lateral roots can branch out 10 to15 feet. However, this makes the plant difficult to transplant. Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Koways roast it as a food source food when pressed by hunger in emergency situations; however, it is not very palatable nor very nutritious. The roots can be baked, boiled or roasted.

From May through August, clusters of 1 to 3 blooms that are funnel-shaped and 2 to 3.5 inches long appear on 3 to 4 inches long stalks in leaf axils. The blooms are pinkish-lavender, purplish-red, lilac or pink with dark throats and have 5 stamen. The fruit are in the form of egg-shaped, long-pointed, smooth capsules that contain 1 to 4 densely hairy, brown seeds. Sow the seeds in spring after chipping and then soaking for 6 to 8 hours in water. Sow seeds about 6mm deep in a peaty seed sowing mix. Ipomoea leptophylla seeds will usually germinate in 5 to 21 days.