Wyatt's Cameo is one of my all time favorites. It's this pink only at dawn--by noon it's rosier, and still a lovely blooming machine.

Caroline, I don't remember when my Morning Glories started blooming, but it was probably early in July. How early or late they bloom varies depending on several factors. First of all, some do bloom earlier than others. In my garden, Grandpa Ott's is almost always the earliest, and it seems to bloom about 6 to 8 weeks after I first notice it has sprouted (it reseeds itself annually--I don't plant it). Unlike my other morning glories, it will bloom while the vines are still quite small. Heavenly Blue is later than most, but it usually blooms by early to mid-August....it starts blooming at about the same time that my moonflowers do. Secondly, Morning Glories bloom best in poorer soil, with little to no fertilizer, and with decreasing amounts of water as the season goes on. In a rainy year, they will grow and grow and grow and become huge monsters with thickly intertwined foliage, and may even cause trellises to collapse under their weight. In a rainy year like that, blooming is often delayed because the plants are so busy making tons of foliage. In a dry year, they will struggle a bit and generally don't look as lush and as healthy, but they will bloom like mad and often will seem to have more flowers than foliage. In any year, they often reach their peak in September-October and are so spectacular then that they practically stop traffic. To understand why they often bloom best in poorer soil and with less water, remember what the purpose of a flower (any flower) is. A plant produces flowers for one reason, and one reason alone--to produce seed so that the species perpetuates itself. In "good growing conditions" the plant doesn't feel threatened at all....it has tons of food and water and is in no hurry to set seed, although it eventually gets around to it. In "bad growing conditions", though, the plant knows it must hurry up and set seed in order to perpetuate itself before it dies. So, you get the best/earliest flowering when the plant knows it is in a struggle to survive. Once you understand that, you know how to manipulate your morning glories into blooming earlier.....withhold water and don't feed them, esp. nitrogen. I will water my morning glories for their first 4 to 6 weeks of existence if rain is not falling, but after that they are on their own. And I tend to plant them in unimproved or only very slightly improved soil, and not in my richest, most well-improved soil where I grow veggies. Since it has been a very dry year here, my morning glories bloomed early and have had a lot of blooms. Last year, though, they were late to bloom because we had a lot of rain here through mid-July, although very little after that. If you grow morning glories in containers, they often will bloom very early. I had a morning glory sprout in a pot in early July (the pot had a tomato plant and basil in it) and that morning glory (a white one with a red or pink star center) has been blooming for a couple of weeks now. And, Simon, the real answer is that they bloom when they are good and ready (LOL) and not before! (But, yes, basically in the mornings, often closing by noon in hotter weather but staying open later on cooler or cloudier days.) I guess, then, you also could figure out that moonflowers (closely related to morning glories) bloom at night! As the days cool off in the fall, both morning glories and moonflowers stay open for longer and longer periods of time. As the first fall freeze nears, they often stay open almost the entire day. Dawn

I've never had Moon Flowers so I'm not sure but my MGs only last a day. Half day really ;) They open in the morning and are closed by about 3 and wilting away. Chelsie

Until yesterday I only saw my Morning Glories in gorgeous bloom in the morning and wilt off by noon. But yesterday (Sep 13, zone 6) I caught them still in bloom at 7 pm!! They started wilting sometime after 8 at night. Is this normal?...or at least normal for early Fall? Or did I stumble upon a mutant?