Moonflowers and Morning Glories

When we first wanted to start trying to get some Morning Glories going, we planted the dry hard seed in the dry ground and tried to keep it wet enough to sprout. The first year, it took a good rain before the seeds all sprouted. The location of that first bed made it difficult for the new plants to start to climb and since it faced north, the little plants were at the mercy of the brutal north and northwest winds of the springtime. I was trying to make windbreaks out of anything and everything. What a waste of time.

It took rethinking where a good flower bed would be. A bunny can chew through a vine in just a minute and your entire 20 foot tall vine will be dead. It is well worth the time to enclose the areas with at least 3 foot tall chicken wire. Okay, I do bury the fence in the ground about two inches. The little furry critters can push under many fences quite easily and if you go to all the trouble of putting up a fence, it's worth a little more effort to do it right. We've been here over ten years now and I am still moving permanent beds. Not having enough fencing for a new garden but needing to move the tomatoes and the cukes; rotating to keep from picking up diseases common to them.

Randy was telling me that the morning glory volunteers out by the arbor aren't growing. They need more watering and there is no hose close enough. The last rain wasn't enough to do them any good. I cannot find the sprinkler and it would be really difficult to set it up but there are few chances of more rain this week so it may be necessary. In the bed where they are planted in behind the new Hibiscus, they are doing really great. Starting to vine and climb up the fence behind them, easily 6 inches tall already. The Hibiscus however are another matter...

This year, I thought I'd given away the very last of the seeds from this past season. Then I found a jar of seeds saved from several years ago. A quick germination test told me that they were fine and about 100% sprouting rate. The test is also the way I sprout seeds for planting. If you put a seed in a little pot, it grows so fast that you'd be moving it to a bigger pot every few days.

I put the cleaned seeds I want to use in a small bowl and cover with lukewarm water. Change the water several times a day for several days. Using a plastic colander, place a double layer of paper towels in the bottom of the colander. Spread out seeds over paper towel and cover with another layer of paper towels. Pour lukewarm water over all towels to soak. Put the bowl in another bowl or container to catch dripping water. Keep an eye on the seeds but you should see sprouts within just a few days. Never let the towels dry out, keep evenly damp. Dump out the excess water in the bottom bowl every time you add any water.

You need to have the beds ready for planting before the seedlings reach the size they need for going outdoors. Once the emerge from the seed, they will be fast to put out roots and the leaves will unfurl. This year, I neglected to put down the layer of towels at the bottom and right away, there were roots going down into the water in the bottom bowl. Fortunately I was able to just pull the plant out with plenty of roots still attached.

I have read instructions where they mention filing the hard seed to make part of it thinner, or cracking the seed. I have never found these methods to work at all. It's just too easy to allow a few extra days and just keep them moist.

The bed around the arbor stays in the all day sunshine and the plants always wilt sadly during the day. The new bed stays in a nice bright spot, open but with little direct sunshine at all. They need much less water where the others need more just to survive. They can stand the heat, they just have a difficult time standing up to the mean direct summer sun. Their area is protected from the mean winds as well. I picked a spot in the enclosed garden where they tree branches fall over the fence where the vines can just grow straight up.

I enjoyed collecting all the Morning Glory information for this section of the Gardening Knowledge of the newsletter. But when I'd read where an expert would say that they vines can grow from 8 to 10 foot long, I laugh and laugh. We've seen them grow 20 to 30 feet up through the oak trees to spread their blooms across the treetops to smile into the sunshine. What a beautiful sight.

I had also read where their bed should not be fertilized since that would cause them to put their growth to the vines and not blooms. Last year, I had put in plenty of humus but they weren't growing. Randy had some left over bat guano mix and dumped it on the morning glory bed. Surprise, they grew like crazy, putting out not just lots of vines but loads of flowers all along those vines. Most excellent. Unless you have caves handy where you could gather your own, it would be best to buy a small bag and see the results. There is just a little bit leftover and it is going to be used up this week.

I didn't have my camera last year when the Morning Glory were blooming so this year will be a fun adventure. The same goes with the Zinnias. They aren't really growing well since our lows keep getting back below 60 and they don't do well so cool. We've had plenty of heat already and have hit 100°F three times so far.

The only time we tried Moonflower was when it came with a packet of mixed climbing vines. What a surprise to find such beauty during the nighttime. We didn't know it was scented until years later when we found it in the scented flowers section. The blooms were 10 foot in the air, we couldn't smell it all all. But the moths it attracts to aid in pollination are said to be lured right in. In this batch of Morning Glory seeds, I found 3 of what will probably be Moonflowers and well worth watching and hoping for the beautiful HUGE nightly blooms. But like the Morning Glory, the blooms only last one day/night.