I've got some of those blue/purple striped ones started, Shibori? I think, something like that..but it also has a really long name starting with 'A' that I can't remember right now lol...no blooms yet this year, though. I had one of the same kind growing inside a couple winters ago that had a couple tiny blooms, but didn't like being inside and died :/ If I didn't have an apartment I'd definitely have more than one kind, though Jennifer

Sorry for the terse reply, was running out of time yesterday by the time I got down to weed forum. Wish GW existed at the time my Mom & I thought she had a "volunteer MG" sprout at her house. I got out the big ladder and put nails all up the wall to which I attached fishing line for the vine to grow on. And grow it did, to the top of the fishing line - about 15 feet in the air... but we never saw any flowers. The next year, there were "MG" sprouts everywhere. Kabillions of them! And shoots coming up all over the area where the vine was the previous year, and beyond, even found a shoot that had found its' way into the basement. Well, we said, hope the "MG" flowers this year although we need to pull some of these sprouts. After paying closer attention, we "found" the flowers and realized it was NOT a MG and why there were so many seedlings all over. It had flowered the previous year alright! Then we noticed, finally, this vine was everywhere in people's yards, going up trees, covering shrubs, taking over flower beds, completely covering fences. I tried to help her battle this thing for the whole time she lived there, about 10 more years, but I was working 60-70 hours per week. And even tho she's not averse to spraying stuff (as I am,) we never got control over it, let alone get rid of it. Since then, my motto has always been, if I didn't put MG seeds in a pot, sprout them, and plant them in a specific place, pull anything that sprouts that looks like that. In this thread, kay describes a method of vine killing that involves poison but not the spraying of it. If you are unable to dig this out, that might be something to consider.

thistle - your question is a good one although technically off-topic and a breach of protocol since this thread is karyn1's thread dedicated to displaying her plants and not a generalized identification / cultivation thread...so, I will respond , although you might want to consider contacting Karyn and inquire as to whether she minds the main topic digression... Ipomoea tricolor cultivar seeds (such as Heavenly Blue) will not survive cold wet weather conditions. There have been previous posts where people have either inquired or stated that they have had volunteers from Ipomoea tricolor in cold wet conditions and in each case : 1) the original plants turned out to be not I.tricolor or a mixture of different species. 2) the original I.tricolor died but some person or animal deposited seeds of a different species in the area There are many seed companies and smaller merchants who put Ipomoea tricolor as the botanical binomial when in fact (as many have eventually learned) that what is actually contained in the seed package may be a mixture of I.tricolor and / or contain a mixture of species...often with no true Ipomoea tricolor at all...Live and Learn... Ipomoea tricolor seeds imbibe water when it is still too cold as compared to other cold hardy annual Ipomoea species which will not imbibe water until the temperatures are warm enough and that they sense that the weather will continue to remain above freezing. The fluctuating temperatures that are common in the colder wet climate zones that occur in the Autumn, Winter and the repeated thaws and re-freezes in Spring kill Ipomoea tricolor seeds. Ipomoea tricolor seeds burst (decompose and die) when they swell from sufficient moisture when the temperatures get below freezing because unlike other cold hardy Ipomoea species , I.tricolor has never developed the survival mechanisms to survive (by self-re-seeding) in the very cold climate zones... I have known of instances where Ipomoea tricolor has successfully self sown in USDA zones 7 or warmer (a 7 is still a rare occurrence) but not in climate zones below a 7 and typically a zone 8 or warmer is required for (accurately identified) Ipomoea tricolor to survive the combination of cold wet conditions. Please consider starting your own new thread (devoted to your topic) and post photos showing the cotyledons of whatever seedlings you have sprouting and I (along with others) should be able to assist with identifying whatever young plant species that you have growing...the accuracy of any identification will be greater if the seedlings have produced true leaves and you can post photos showing the true leaves. regards, Ron

roflol - You mentioned "So one has to wait until the seed pod pedicles(sic) have reflexed (or not) to determine what one has with these particular vines? No wonder there is such confusion..." That's pretty much the way it is in order to determine the species correctly with regard to the plants in question... "...there is nothing on PlantFiles (to a nonmember) to indicate their use of the term means otherwise." Each scientific specialty often has a somewhat different definition for particular terms than may be the case for the same term as applicable in a more generalized usage...and some clarification is often discovered through simple trial and error... So,since we are dealing within the realm of the botanical sciences I thought I should share on the clarification of the term... The purpose and intent of my sharing is to help in providing accurate information about the plants and although I may comment on what I see as an error >the focus is on providing accurate information and is not a 'personal attack' on anyone... There are many online botanaries that vary in degree of accuracy...my personal focus is to clarify identification of species often by verbal descriptions with links to clear closeups of relevant structures whenever possible and I do contribute photos to the PlantFiles...the aspects that I work on take alot of volunteered time and effort which I enjoy contributing to but the 'job' of working on the various botanical dictionaries and glossaries is someone else's 'department'... It is beyond the scope of the PlantFiles per se to clarify every botanical term and a certain amount of pre-knowledge of the definition and usage of certain terms is definitely helpful regarding any scientific specialty... Continue to Enjoy the Wonderful World of Plants... TTY,... Ron