well ... lol...

if you had asked.. i probably would have told you it couldnt be done... easily, anyway .. lol ... but you should have fun trying ....

CONGRATS!!!!!!

what a breath of fresh air and summer.. in an otherwise drab and suicidal-type winter ...

had you done this before???

good work

ken

ps: is the variegated one really a MG??? .... whats its name.. i might need to buy some seed... or did you throw in a couple other types ....

Hi Ken,

Thank you for your kind comments and questions!

Yes, I have grown MGs indoors over the winter perhaps the last 3 years now. It is relatively easy to do so. The key is to have them in a warm place, near a good light source. I use the natural sunlight whenever possible. Ipomoea nil is a short day plant so the short days of winter seem to stimulate flower production.

I learned many techniques from the online information posted by Japanese gardeners. Container culture of MG in Japan is very popular.

The variegated leaf plant is indeed a morning glory. It has no variety name. It is a dwarf type plant and has made a very compact plant in its small container. It has recently begun making flowers, but I grew it for its foliage. I hope it makes some seeds. Many of the Japanese-developed strains of Ipomoea nil are not big seed makers.

Joseph
{{gwi:2317}}

I presume the short compact variegated leaf plant with red flower was the one to which you referred, Ken, and not one of the others. My apologies if this is not the case.

Nice - thanks for sharing those.

I love the idea of having blooming morning glories trailing around my big southern exposure window. It has enough light to keep my rosemary and my olive tree happy, so maybe it would work.

You're welcome, mandolls.

My big window at work has a southwest exposure, and I have had good success growing all sorts of small plants, including MGs, there on that windowsill.

It helps to find a variety that does not grow vigorously. One that is a good candidate is Cameo Elegance.

many variegated plants are sterile.. or so far at the end of the genetic gene pool ... that they may as well be considered so ... they are usually propagated thru cuttings ....

here in MI ... i have had ice on the insides of my windows every other day or so for the last 45 days or so ... morning glories would not approve .. lol ..

so did you buy the variegated one as a plant.. rather than seed????

ken

In the Japanese-developed Ipomoea nil strains, variegated leaves are frequently seen. Some variegated leaf plants are poor seed makers and some are very good seed makers. It's an interesting species.

Ken, I grew all my plants shown above from seeds. In the summer sometimes you can find morning glory plants for sale at the nursery, but they are the common ones.

This Japanese MG (Ipomoea nil) made this flower shown below this time last year, indoors.

Joseph

You got me excited about Morning Glories and I ran across this one. I have never seen a picotee MG before. I wish I had more sunny trellises in my garden. I tried mixing MG's into my bean and cucumber trellises, but they kind of took over.

Damn - I thought I was done with seed buying for the year!

Here is a link that might be useful: Blue Picotee MG

I have seeds of that one but have not grown it yet. I have heard you get single flowers and a few plants will make the double form.

The new leaves of this one are more variegated than previous leaves.

Those leaves are beautiful. Worth growing for the foliage alone!

The flowers opened nicely today.

One from today.

Here are some recent photos of morning glory flowers from my indoor container garden.

I like this split-petal Ipomoea purpurea.

This flower color pattern continues to impress and delight me.

These are all wonderful! That variegated leaf is, as Mandolls says, worth growing for the foliage alone. I absolutely am NOT going to let myself order any more seed this year - LOL! But next year I'm looking for this Ipomoea nil - love it! Thanks for posting these.
- Alex

I keep looking at your pics and have been designing indoor trellises in my mind's eye.

How many MG are you growing inside?

I don't know how many I have right now. No more than 10 at home.

Each is in its own pot.

This could also be done with the decorative leaved sweet potato varieties, some of which also flower. They look very much like these too in many cases. For them warmth is a key, though; my 55-65 degree kitchen is not warm enough for the cuttings I took last autumn. It worked for my phal orchid and African violet plants, and it has carried my cured onion and garlic bulbs and sweet potato roots very well, but not the sp cuttings. Standard sweet potatoes can also be overwintered as decorative vining plants, but they do not do well if chilled.

ohmygoodness I am in love with the white one with lavender edges!

I am growing MG too! I had a pack of seeds and I thought, for giggles, I'd throw some in a pot and see what happened. Success! I was so surprised. Mine aren't as pretty as yours, but they sure do brighten up a LONG winter here in New England. *sigh* Now, I have 3 plants on the go, two in bloom and one ready any day. :)

Thanks everyone!

OldDutch, I need to try my hand at growing sweet potato this summer.

Desirai, that one seems to be the favorite of everyone.

Cynthia, I really like that Heavenly Blue MG, it's so good to know one can grow Ipomoea tricolor indoors over the winter. Has it made seeds for you?

Cynthia,

I am partial to blue and love your Heavenly Blue morning glory vine. It is lovely. I planted these old fashioned MG's late last summer to replace a vine I'd removed. I did not remember how quickly MG's grow and bloom. It had been years since I'd grown this plant. What a lovely surprise! Beautiful blue blooms to greet me each morning and they bloomed daily until first frost.

Mary

Amazing plants and photos! Thanks for posting. I hope you don't mind, but I just wanted to link this post to the two you posted last year. For everyone who enjoys this post the other two are even better and deserve a second and third look!

Here is a link that might be useful: summer blooms

Again, I hope you don't mind me posting these links, but I don't see how anyone could not want to add morning glories after seeing these!

Here is a link that might be useful: last winter

Thank you, kato-san, it is good to link related threads. Thank you for your nice comments, you made my day. :-)