MORNING GLORY
Ipomoea Tricolor
Heavenly Blue
The Ipomea is an exuberant climbing plant very decorative by its abundant foliage and its splendid and generous flowering.
It bears many deciduous, tender green leaves in the shape of a heart.
Its flowering gives pretty blue trumpet, clusters or solitary flowers .
They have the particularity of opening in the morning to fade in the evening, but they are renewed every day.
PERIOD
Ipomea is a plant that does not support frost. You have to wait until May to sow it directly outside.
At night the temperatures should not be lower than 10 degrees.
Indoors or in a greenhouse, planting can begin as early as March. You can continue sowing and planting until July.
You can also sow directly in the ground from mid-May but flowering will take place much later which is a shame
for an annual plant.
LOCATION
Place the Ipomea in a sunny spot. Avoid excessively dry soils.
The growth of this plant is extremely fast: it can even reach 3 to 6 meters in a few weeks.
It has the advantage of being talkative and therefore of fixing itself on the trellis, the fence, the tree or the arbor that it is going.
literally embrace.
Its flowering is generous and its flowers form pretty trumpets.
They have a fairly short lifespan but are constantly being renewed.
SOW
Soak the seeds in lukewarm water for 1 hour before sowing to speed up emergence.
The sowing is done in pockets, by placing 3-4 seeds in a small hole 3 or 4 cm deep in the ground.
Pot
The pot culture of the ipomea is quite possible and even interesting to adorn a terrace or a balcony.
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To do this, choose a pot of sufficient diameter (approximately 30 cm)
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Make sure the pot is well drilled at the bottom and ideally put a bed of clay balls at the bottom
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Then fill the pot with potting soil for flowering plants
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Water as soon as the soil is dry on the surface without flooding the plant
CARE
The Ipomea has the advantage of being very easy and therefore requires very little care
No pruning is necessary because the ipomea only lasts a year.
If, however, it becomes invasive, you can easily cut a few stems as and when necessary.
The Ipomea must be watered regularly, especially in the event of strong heat, but without excess.
The addition of a fertilizer for flowering plants should improve flowering, especially for potted ipomea.
Mulching at the foot keeps humidity after watering and therefore limits the number of waterings.
The Ipomea is grown as an annual and therefore will not grow back from year to year.
A LITTLE GARDENER GLOSSARY
A seedling (sowing) | A plant (plant)
When you sow seeds you get seedlings.
Seedlings are made in small pots indoors (or in a greenhouse outdoors).
Once the plant has grown sufficiently, several weeks later, we speak of a plant that we can put in the ground.
to complete its growth.
When and how to seed?
Most of the seeds are made between February and April, when nature awakens. Planting is usually done at this time.
Sow your seeds in small containers placed inside (or in a greenhouse outside), in the light, with a soil always slightly moist. You will then see your plants appear.
When outdoor temperatures are above 10 degrees at night, you can place your plants directly in the ground.
NOTE: When the temperature allows it, you can also sow directly in the ground (without sowing inside),
however this will delay flowering, since you will not be able to do this step before May-June, depending on the region
and the vagaries of the weather.
To sow in pots/pockets: Place several seeds in a hole.
Broadcast sowing: Spread the seeds as homogeneously as possible over the entire surface to be sown.