Yes! Don't plant them unless you want the little guys everywhere. I received a free package of seeds of them when I moved in 10 years ago. It said they were an annual so I put them in front of our decking. Now every year I have to pull them out from around the house- even in the front yard. I will never, ever plant those little buggers again.

That's my experience at least.:)

i put mine up twine, they do fine. talla, my five year old, hers went wild, and took over the one garden area, so i doubt i'll get them out!! errrr!! just make sure you have them in control, like twine or something to go up or around. they say like 6 ft. as my son say's "WHATEVER!!" LOL :')) but they sure are beauty's!! i have a tray ful of them now!! LOL :'))

They are beautiful but once you got em, you got em! Mine took over the bed I had them in and nearly killed my roses. It took me 2 years of constant pulling to get rid of them. I did plant some along the fence between my house and the neighbors (with permission) and they look beautiful. Any unwanted ones simply get mowed over. If you love them find a spot where it doesn't matter what they do/take over.

I really need to look at the spread on the seeds I have.

I have this hill I hate to mow. I planted some low growing junipers on it and I was thinking I could put them in between each shrub. And there is a fence at the top of the hill, so they would grow up that.

Thanks everyone!

Very aggressive.
You could be pulling them up for years.

I also have PTMGS (post tramatic morning glory syndrome)! I planted them when we first moved in to our home ten years ago, along a piece of yard that had a tall privete hedge to clime. They reseeded everywhere in the area and I've been pulling them for years and years. Haven't planted any since.

But THIS year I had decided to give them another try, in more isolated areas were maybe I can keep on top of them better. Or maybe just in pots with a trellis. I'd love to hear from someone on this forum who always grows them and has positive experience in managing them! They are pretty! Maybe there are recommendations for varietes that don't "take over"? I've got a bunch of red/magenta seeds and something called tie dye blue.

Yes, they reseed so much so that I have not had to plant any between my house and the neighbors because of the reseeding! The only reason that I have replanted was because of the different types available. You will be surprised at the different mixed colors you will get by growing different varieties together!

The Garden Pooter!!!

I guess it all depends on where you are. I do wish mine would reseed every year. Sometimes it's a real struggle trying to grow some of these beauties. :O(

I don't think a trellis will make a difference. Seeds that drop down 6 or 8 feet can germinate as easily as the ones that fall a few inches to the ground, lol!

I grew Star of Yelta, and for some reason, for me, these seemed to be much more aggressive than the few other varieties I tried before or since. Since my SoY experience, though, I do try to deadhead the blooms. It can be hard if you have a lot, but they are on an arbor near my back door, so every evening I will go pull off the blooms from that day to try to stay on top of things.

For me, they are not so bad that I wouldn't grow them. They are worth the extra effort to me.

:)
Dee
Who, back in her first year of growing morning glories and collecting seed thought she was the new, hot-shot seed collector because she had so many, and who now has no idea of what to do with a huge envelope of SoY seeds because she has nightmares of throwing them away and then reading that the local dump has been overtaken by morning glories!

I'd say they're aggressive. Mine would reseed in the astroturf on my terrace floor. Got rid of the astroturf last year and haven't replaced it, but those MGS come up every year in one pot or another. I haven't actually sown an MG seed in three years.

PV

Im thinking of growing them in a hanging basket on the patio. lets see em grow thru patio bricks! hee!

Hi, Nan:
I haven't given up on them either. But I am pulling them out of the ground all year routinely from a garden I bought a few years back. I recognize the seedlings from when I lost control of them in a past garden.

If a few escape, I can live with that. Also, I got a free pack of DWARF striped morning glories from my eBay vendor so I think I will try those in a deck container.

I have definitely heard that some of the more rare colors are less rampant.

There's something about those velvet trumpets that I can't resist, but geez I wish they didn't have so many leaves!

My issues with the ones that "went wild" was they twisted around all the other plants and choked them out. I wouldn't mind them popping up in unexpected places if they would just be good neighbors!

Nancy

I had great difficulties getting MG to flower. I had success when I decided to plant them in a large pot with a trellis in it. I collect all the seeds I can locate off the vine in the fall, and anything that's left goes in the garden bags for collection. Can't say I've ever had to pull any. The jury may be out on that though because last year, for the first time, I put a few Heavenly Blue in the ground around my front yard light post. They bloomed very late, and I believe I ripped them out before the seeds were fully dried. I'll be looking out for the little ones!!

It depends where you live as Tiffy said. Here in maine, they are a great choice to use. Ive never had a muture seed pod, I barely get any seed pods as it is. Ive never had them reseed.

I grow them up my mail box pole each year. Some years are better than others...

Mixture of heavenly blue and grandpa otts...

{{gwi:348016}}

They are aggressive, but I let them reseed. I love the flowers in the morning but I keep them confined by clipping the vines that get away and in mid summer. I cut them back severely so they have to start all over. They reseed in late October before frost finishes them off.

Mom says its criminal what I do, because she only enjoys about a month of blooms before I WHACK them. lol

I can remember my roommate many years ago looking at a hill of them behind our fence. They had completely blanketed the area and of course only flowered in the morning so it was a jungle of leaves and vines.

He said, "Nice beans."

Hmmm, now I'm "on the fence" about whether or not to plant MGs on my back fence. I desperately need to cover that ugly fence. There is an extremely ugly wild hedge behind it (belonging to our neighbor). I was going to put some MGs there to see if that would provide a bit of color and screening, but now I'm rethinking that plan. I don't want to cause a reseeding nightmare. Maybe I'll stick to trying scarlet runner beans there this year. . . .

Laurel

Laurel,have you thought of planting 'Sweet Autumn Climatis'?It grows rather quick, and is beaytiful IMO.

Carol

Well I guess I'll find out soon if I'll be tangled in a jungle of MG or not! I collected lots of seed last fall, but found I still had more to collect last-weekend! Yes, those pods were still hanging on and I got a whole 8oz container of mature seeds!!

Eeeeek

Don't plant them!!! Seven years after I first planted them I still have them coming up and My H hates them. I leave a few develope so that's the reason they keep coming back. Mowing them off will not kill the sprouts, you have to hand pull them to get rid of them in the grass. I know as I have a long trellis we try to grow climbing roses on (that's another story) and there is grass in the path between the sides.

The flowers are so striking in the morning light but forget about them. (at least in the Midwest)

Connie

I'm going to jump in and disagree here on them being aggressive...it really depends on what kind you sow. Ipomoea nil (also known to some as Japanese MG) aren't aggressive at all and in our z6, rarely do the seeds make it over the winter. Ipomoea tricolor (example heavenly blue) rarely reseeds here if at all. Some of your Ipomoea purpurea can be a nuisance for reseeding but are easy enough to rake up or pull out in late spring early summer when they begin.

On a personal note I say go for it!!!

just1morehosta,

Lol, I used to have Sweet Autumn Clematis on that fence - it almost ate my neighbor's shrubs! Yikes, was it aggressive. I liked the plant, just not where I had it.

Ronnie17, I have seeds for 'Heavenly Blue.' I'm still tempted to plant it. Now I've got to go see which varieties are which (I. nil, I. tricolor, I. purpurea). Thanks for the input!

Laurel

Her you go Doris, lol! It's not a morning glory, but it has happened with them. I just pull them but let the petunias stay!

{{gwi:200980}}

:)
Dee

YIKES, DEE, THOSE look just like MY patio bricks also.....

hee!

Morning glories can not be gotten rid of by raking around here. They can come up any time during the growing season, not just in spring. They just keep popping!

I always miss a few and they just keep going. They do have lovely flowers, but they are rampant in my zone.

If I had to cover a fence, I'd probably go for a decorative ivy or something else evergreen.

The best fence cover I ever had was some kind of woody vinca type plant. It went right up a board fence like a vine, but had very woody stems.

It never flowered, but it did get white berries late in the year. It had to be cut back once a year to keep it up against the fence, because it would bush out, but it made a really classic looking English garden type background--I think the birds loved it too.

I also like those scarlet trumpet vines, but around here, they can also become huge and take over--guess I'll wait for a dwarf version of it.

Carol, I'm a clematis fan too. I have somekind of wild clematis in my city garden and it is rampant too, but I love the snowy, star shaped flowers so I'm keeping at least one of those guys on the fence line and filling in the rest with roses.

Wow, did I stir up some nightmares? I can't believe the responses! I guess I will not be planting them. And I bought about 8-9 packs of MG seeds! At least they were only ten cents or 30 cents a pack.

That petunia growing in the bricks is neat!

I am thinking my vines this year will be blacked eyed susan vine and hyacinth bean vine, together. Should be a nice contrast.

Ronnie,

What species would 'Star of Yelta' be? This was my HEAVY seeder :O

Vera

Ipomoea pandurata is a native morning glory that is endangered in New York. I live in Buffalo, part of its native range, and winter-sowed 5 seeds this year. We'll see how it does!

Vera, 'Star of Yelta' would be I.purpurea

I'm wondering if some of the folks here are dealing with perennial morning glory, or bindweed.

Other than the Star of Yelta, I haven't found any MGs I've tried to be aggressive, and as long as I deadhead the SoYs, they're not that bad either.

Admittedly my experience is limited to about 5 varieties, but still, couldn't help wondering, since the perennial MGs are truly invasive.

:)
Dee

My rampant MG was the classic blue variety. That's the one my roommate mistook for "beans". My new garden had MGs planted by the previous owner and I've been busy pulling up the seedlings since I bought the place, having learned my lesson to keep them in check.

Two more vines fence covers I'm planning to try some time are jassmine and hops. Does anyone know if those are rampant?

My wild clematis is definitely rampant.

This year I WS-ed pink honeysuckle. Pink is supposed to be less rampant than the wild honeysuckle, and I'm really looking forward to seeing if it will sprout!

Zone 6-7 WV-DC

Oh boy Dee!!!..... and thanks Ronnie :D

Bindweed....
I haven't had it yet, but just a few lots down from me the yard is covered in it. I bet it won't be too long before it creeps it's way around here though! The obnoxious vine that creeps in from time to time in this yard is the annual Wild Buckwheat and the sticky vining annual Bedstraw...ICK!

Here is a link that might be useful: NCAP~Ways to eliminate Bindweed w/out herbacides

Thanks for the link! That stuff is eeeeevil. I'd love to learn the not-so-nice words for it in all 29 languages - it'll add a bit of variety to the creative cussing that usually takes place when I'm pulling it.

Morning Glories are not a plant, they're a weed. If you leave one inch of white root in the ground, a year later you'll have them all over the place. I removed over 25 pounds of the weeds from my garden area and tilled up the entire searching with a fine toothed comb. Then I put down landscape fabric and 3 inches of gravel to stop the suckers. After all that, I fully expect when I redo my garden in 10 years I'll find them snaked all over the area trying to find daylight. The flowers may be pretty, but they're voracious and unstoppable. That's not a good thing!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sinfonian's garden adventure!

Im going back defending MGS for colder zones...

Some of you in zone 4 are saying you will not try this now.... MGs are basically harmless in colder zones.. IVE never had a mature seed pod in 5 years of growing several types of MGS... They will not regrow from their roots in our zone... They are a great vigorous vine to use in alot of different ways, with wonderful results! GO MGS!

BTW I feel like this could be the same argument with honeysuckle vine LOL! I know people willing to come up and rip it up with thier bare hands, but again, here in the north, it is slow to establish and doesnt get out of bounds, in fact some varieties die back a little each year... BUT THATS another argument!

NOW Bindweed is different, bindweed is a smaller pinkish MG style flower that can be invasive. I doubt many of you are wintersowing that however!

Silverkelt

I have a bindweed problem in my city garden too, though they are a bit smaller than MGs they tend to choke whatever they attach to. The MGs are being kept in check by constantly pulling up those very distinctive seedlings that look like two sort-a heart shaped nurse leaves.

Someday Morning Glories may take over the world--actually there will probably be an epic battle with Kudzu!

Just want to clarify something I said - I never meant to imply that people were WSing bindweed, lol! (Gee, I hope not!)

I just thought that since so many people seem to have a problem with MGs, that maybe they were confusing naturally-ocurring bindweed with MGs that they may have planted in their yard and thought might be reseeding aggressively.

:)
Dee

I guess it all depends how many you start with and how much time and desire you have to tending the garden. In my little urban patio, I would be pretty sad not to have morning glories. A cup of coffee and these beauties in the morning is a great way to start the day. I let some go if I like the variety and if I know they will be back I get a little aggressive myself. Since I do like nosing aroung my plants when I come home I just pinch off as many of the spent flowers or immature seed pods as I can reach. If it's a variety I know I want to seed again or trade I tag the pods with different colored twist-ties.
And its no skin off my nose to pull up seedlings or small vines if they are where I don't want them.
Sounds like a lot of work, but hey, I need a hobby!
Peace
George

I've had trouble with Grandpa Otts, Yelta, & the blue variety, but the larger flowering Japanese morning glories rarely reseed for me.

I've collected black, dark purple and rose MG seeds, but they didn't germinate which leads me to believe they are not rampant varieties.

I came in looking for this thread because I planted MG's last year and they didn't bloom really well (I had the exact same 2 as silverkelt has pictured up above) so I planned on replacing them with some type of Clematis this year. Well already I can see that I may have a problem getting rid of them because the area that they are in is fairly small, the bed is probably 12x8, but they are already coming up throughout the bed, there's at least 50 little sprouts and some of them are already showing up in the bed next to this one.
So my question are:
1)If I can't keep them all out of the Clematis this year will the Clematis be OK or will they choke it out?
2)How aggressive is Clematis and might I have the same problem with it next year?
3)Or should I just keep the MG's & hope that they will bloom better in their 2nd year?

Thank you,
Strouper