Have they been fertilized, or has the lawn beneath them been fertilized?

Nope. No fertilizer has touched these. I didn't even mix anything into the soil when I planted them. I just loosened things up and stuck in the seed pots. I head they didn't like fertilizer right? They get sun almost the whole day. To give some perspective, the neighbors house is just south of me; so these are basically south facing and get 7+ hours of sun per day. I'm thinking it is more weather related. We had lots of rainy days in June and July and then had some scorching heat in August. Maybe that's why? Now things have cooled and dried off; so I'm hoping for blooms before frost.

honnat, I was going to be amazed that without fertilizer they haven't bloomed, because here at our house, we've had blistering sun and heat and no rain. But if you had a lot of rainy weather, that might be it. Such a shame! Moonflower is notorious for blooming very late. I have stopped growing it because I barely see a bloom before frost. But the morning glories should be blooming by now. Do you have any flower buds at least?

I dont have any insight to the problem, but i wanted to say they sure covered your fence nicely! And when they bloom it will be spectacular. I meant to do it to my chainlink as well...along with a million other things i never did! When is your first frost in zone 4?

That was me who said mine were slow to get blooming. They produced humongous leaves but hardly any blooms until a few weeks ago. Now they're blooming pretty good.

MG's don't need fertilizing, but they do need plenty of water.

I think this was a strange year for MG's and also Moonflowers, our MF's were late to bloom also.

I was in the same boat as everyone else, except as of last week I'm finally seeing a flush of blooms. Also see my post in the Gallery on the "window MG experiment".

I wonder if it might be worthwhile to send a photo to the seed company who puts out the morning glory seed you used and see if they have an explanation?

Well I had morning glories once and thought mine weren't blooming either...turns out that in the morning they bloom facing the morning sun and that meant they were facing the neighbors house and not mine...here they were blooming but I couldn't see them!!! Could there be any chance that is happening with you?
Joann

LOL, now that you mention it, I remember that happening to me one year. If you are not out there when they are blooming you miss them. Some morning glories bloom for a longer period during the day and a few bloom most of the day, but some really bloom early and close early. Of course, I'm sure you can see whether there are flower buds or not though.

I also mentioned on one of the forums that my MGs were not blooming -maybe the Vine Forum. We have had temps in the 90s for 30 days at least, starting in June - a couple, a lot in July and some in August. This is not typical for central PA to have so many 90s in a continuous period. We had a few blooms early and then nothing until now. I see a gazillion little buds coming so if they have time the arched arbor should be awesome along with everywhere I have them planted. I will definitely posts some photos if the MGs don't let me down. They are my DH's favorite blue flower.
Good luck everybody. Jane

Thanks for the posts. I don't think I'm alone with this issue! ghoghunter- I don't think the blooms are hiding. I'm on both sides of the fence in the morning and evening trying to tuck in the long vines that are hanging everywhere & tring to find a bud or a bloom. They get some morning sun facing the yard; so I'm hopefull. lilyfinchfirst- frost is supposed to be Sept 15 - but it is usually later. Prairiemoon - I didn't think of sending a photo to the seed company. Most of those companies seem pretty corporate; but who knows??

The MG's on our fence line open in the morning facing the house with the sun behind them, so I don't think the sun makes a difference like it would for Sunflowers.

I've showed this picture before but this is my favorite picture from last year. They've done great for the past 15 years until this summer. Go figure!

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Moonflowers with MG's mixed in. Oh, and my MF's have never grown as a vine, only as a smallish bush.

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oakleyok, your moonflowers are the datura kind, and the vining types are ipomea, a different species.

My flame vine got a very late start this year and just began to bloom.

Looking at all of your morning glories makes me want to go plant some!
Renee

How odd that they aren't blooming! Not even any sign of buds?

Thanks hosenemisis. You ought to plant some seeds next spring, they grow like weeds. Well, they are considered weeds by many. lol But they're easy to control.

Speaking of late bloomers, our 4 o'clocks got a late start and they're not putting on much of a show either.

This year I planted more colors and the yellow one's bloom but the flowers won't open! The red and white one's together are by far the prettiest. But they open so late in the day I can't really enjoy them.

I plant Heavenly Blues every year here at the end of the fence, then by the time the hollyhocks are done the MGs twine along the top of the fence (and sometimes up HH stalks as you can see). So far they aren't as robust as in years past and I have had to encourage vines to grow along the top by entwining them myself to the pickets.

The vines on the window have just started to bloom as of last week. Lots of buds behind the leaves.

Would you believe I spied two or three dark purple blooms of Grandpa Otts!? I pulled them asap! How many years has it been since I planted GO? 6? Every Spring I watch for seedlings and pull them - handfuls every day. They still manage to evade me.

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I believe that blooms signal the end of growth. Mine haven't bloomed yet either but they are still growing. I think we just need to go talk to them and ask them nicely to bloom before the frost :)

Mine weren't blooming either and I mixed a heaping tablespoon of epson salt to a gallong of water and they started blooming. The soil is missing something, they should be blooming. I know this puts magnesium in the soil. It worked for me.