HU-120274311 I wouldn't worry about the fact that the dandelions went to seed. There are seeds everywhere, whether they come from your lawn or a lawn half a mile away. An interesting fact is that the best time to kill dandelions is after they have gone to seed. The plant expends so much energy producing the seedhead that it is left weaker and more vulnerable to the herbicide. Also, many spring dandelion blooms can be avoided by using a herbicide in the fall to kill off the dandelions actively growing in the lawn at that time which will prevent them from being around to bloom in the spring.

We're still very, very busy in my garden as I always try to do too much. The pear and apple trees are loaded with fruit despite the fact they have shared fire blight. Mr. Man had to cut back some of the limbs that were breaking due to the heavy weight of the pears. He also cut back the limbs most affected by the fire blight. The grapefruit and Meyer lemon have lots of fruit for the first year. Yesterday we ate the three peaches that were on the peach tree. When we bit in they were so juicy that the juice shot out all over our faces, hands and shirts. Aahhh, to have to wait another year for more of these delicious peaches. Lost 5 citrus trees that were leafing out this spring. Just planted them in the fall. Had a late 32 degree night. Didn't cover them with a frost blanket as I had during the winter thinking it wasn't going to be cold enough to hurt them. Wrong. The kumquat is just beginning to set fruit and it looks like it is going to be a bumper year for this tree. If I can just keep my grands from picking them this year. I can always tell which grand picks this tree as to how high from the ground the fruit is gone. The pecan trees actually have pecans...the first time in 3-4 years. Again, thanks to the hurricanes. The Concord grape vines are absolutely loaded with grapes despite the fact that the County Extension agent says Concord grapes will not grow under any circumstances in our area. I'm not going to tell the grapes this as this is their 8th year and third transplant later. (Note to Self: Take a pic and pick some grapes to put on his desk as soon as they are ripe.) The tomato plants look downright pityful. Guess didn't get enough water when they needed it, bless their hearts. The hyacinth beans are getting large enough that Christian and the grands are going to help me make their teepee today with the vines. Tiny, tiny frogs are jumping all over the rocks around the pond. Still quite a few tadpoles in the pond. Cleaned out the kid's swimming pool for the second time this summer as the pump went out and had to find a new one that fit. There must have been a gazillion large tadpoles in the pool squiggling and wiggling all around Mr. Man's feet while he was cleaning it out. Thank God for this man...don't know that I could have done it. Missed the time to trim back my roses before their first big burst of bloom. Just trimmed them back. Hopefully, this won't harm them too much. Almost finished with my new daylily bed a friend has been helping me design and plant. This has been a major project as we killed all grass and weeds this spring, put down an irrigation system, put down four layers of newspaper, cut open 280 brown paper bags I purchased fromt the local grocery and put over the newspaper, and then put down 32 bails of pinestraw, in hopes of controlling the weeds and water conservation. We are now on 'phase 3'...putting in the walkway. This has been planned since before Katrina and is FINALLY coming to life. Friends all over have been giving me daylilies for this bed and all but about a dozen have been planted. The clome volunteers are now about 3-4 feet high in this bed and look so pretty. I just love this little plants...like the Everready battery, they just keep going and going. Have transplanted some herbs from the destroyed herb bed (thanks Katrina) to the new Fairy Garden that we made last fall around the little pond. Now need to mow down the herbs that I'm not going to transplant. Now, need to start concentrating on getting the other countless plants-in-pots in the ground.

Hi David - Thanks for your reply and feedback. This reply is a combination of responses related to what was posted on another thread here: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/vines/msg0721424814478.html?6 and what has been posted on the current thread. I have placed Daves original statements in quotation marks to indicate that is what Dave stated and / or asked. I'm glad to reply to your suppositions and your inquiries... "I suppose I should be sorry for touching a nerve." No reason to be sorry , because whenever I see over-generalizations posted regarding Morning Glories , I will post to offset with accurate info and I have specialized in Morning Glories for over 5 decades. I've traded and shared with people all over the world and own 2 groups devoted to all MG's....and I am very familiar with the peer reviewed literature... I would suggest that you would need to look at sources other than the UMN plantfinder as many if not most are available and I did previously mention ebay as a source... Try ebay for instance or use google advanced search http://www.google.com/advanced_search Do a search of members trade lists here: http://members.gardenweb.com/members/exch-search.cgi Did you only check the University of Minnesota site or did you also check other sources like ebay or members trade lists ? Most would be available from those who have a particular interest in MG's , like many species or cultivars that are not offered by the Big Companies , those who belong to the plant groups often trade / share seeds amongst each other. "...the fact is, the reason many non-Ipomaea smitten gardeners do not grow them, is because of their tendency to self-sow." The choice of species and the particulars of how the plant is grown is a primary consideration, because tropical species will not survive cold wet Autumns or Springs and plants grown in containers on a smooth hard surface are much less likely to be problematic. The self-perpetuation of any plants from seeds is certainly higher from plants grown in the middle of what is essentially a soft ground area and where it may be difficult to hand pull out any possible volunteers. Here is my reply to the list I posted and availability... Ipomoea alba - one of the easiest to locate Ipomoea albivenia - - plants are becoming more commonly available in the US Ipomoea carnea - ebay or JLHudson Ipomoea lindheimeri - ebay Ipomoea lobata - commonly available Ipomoea macrorhiza - commonly available from MG traders Ipomoea pandurata is often self-incompatible - ebay or traders Ipomoea turbinata - now back to Ipomoea muricata - very common amongst seed traders Ipomoea ochracea - seed trading circuit Ipomoea setosa - common amongst seed traders Ipomoea wrightii - ebay or seed traders Merremia aegyptia - ebay or seed traders Merremia dissecta - ebay or common amongst seed traders Turbina corymbosa - ebay or seed traders JLHudson, Seedsman http://jlhudsonseeds.net/ "I'd rather put my trust in a nationally known retailer with a reputation to protect than someone random bloke on ebay. A nationally know retailer to protect what (?)...their self-interest... Did you know that MOST nationally owned big plant merchandizes are already owned by either MONSANTO or one of it's subsidiaries and Monsanto is the biggest threat to the environment that there is... http://salsa3.salsalabs.com/o/50865/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=8967 Ron says - For The Permanent Record: The Vast majority of large seed sources do not have their Morning Glories accurately identified. There are MANY Universities and Botanic gardens which do NOT have their Morning Glories accurately identified , although I have communicated with many sites over the years (including the USDA, e.g. ,about 25% of the species on their public site were mislabeled) ) assisting them with identification issues... "While I was discussing this aspect on another thread, might as well continue here. Seems morning glories (from an outsider perspective, but I have > 20 years experience of serious horticultural experience) have the curse of low expectations." I would say that Morning Glories are cursed by myths as the cause of any 'low expectations...also depends on what your expectations are... "Merchants assume people just want seed strains, many of which do self-seed to some degree of agressiveness, instead of known clones of rare species that are not likely to spread. In any case, if the true Heavenly Blue, as mentioned above, doesn't spread... I want one. But I'm wary of growing it from seed or getting a seed grown plant." "Which seems to be the main one addressing non-weedy morning glories. Surely these can be rooted though? Seems like many offering seeds is just inviting the possibility of cross contamination with species whose seeds have better viability, and the eventual artificial selection of something that is likely to be weedier. " The Ipomoea cross the species barrier with great difficulty... The only hybrids known by human assisted / hand cross pollination are : 1) Ipomoea sloteri (an auto-tetraploid) in section Mina 2) 3 species within section Pharbitis = Ipomoea hederacea , Ipomoea nil and Ipomoea purpurea 3) The ONLY known open pollinated inter-specific hybrids are all within series Batatas (species all extremely closely related to Ipomoea batatas)... Anybody claiming otherwise (no matter who it is) , likely needs to be acquainted with objective facts... Here is a great site devoted to Morning Glories: http://protist.i.hosei.ac.jp/Asagao/Yoneda_DB/E/menu2.html "There are species which will NOT survive a cold wet Autumn or Spring (Ipomoea tricolor)" it seems like you are hedging your bets. Are you saying if I plant this vine in spring, even though it will bloom all summer I will not have a problem with seedlings around and under it? No, not hedging my bets at all...the Ipomoea tricolor doesn't start to flower until the mid-summer and by the time any seeds are ripe , it will be almost time for the weather to be too cold for any self-sown plants to grow very much. Choice of species is important and obtaining your seeds from someone who accurately identifies their species is also important. I have made myself available for several decades to people who are looking for identifications and I am still available...before or after you obtain any plants or seeds... "So, apparently the name of 'Heavenly Blue' has been degraded from a cultivar to a seed strain. In that case can you recommend a source for the true, sterile 'Heavenly Blue'? Are there any other sterile morning glories? For that matter feel free to recommend your "top 3 varieties that are not sterile, but unlikely to self seed in normal conditions". For example when you say this: "There are species which will NOT survive a cold wet Autumn or Spring (Ipomoea tricolor)" it seems like you are hedging your bets. Are you saying if I plant this vine in spring, even though it will bloom all summer I will not have a problem with seedlings around and under it? It's very windy here, I cannot possibly gather every seed that might germinate. The people who owned this house ten years ago had (probably bog standard) morning glories in one small area only, thankfully. 10 years later I still pull up around 5-10 seedlings a year, down from scores. " Ipomoea seeds are eaten by mice, chipmunks, squirrels , birds , particularly grainivorous birds like partridges, pigeons, doves, quail, grouse, pheasant and songbirds... You might have a species growing which was given to you by the birds... Ipomoea tricolor "Heavenly Blue" is not sterile, nor are any other cultivars of Ipomoea tricolor like "Blue Star" , Flying Saucers", Pearly Gates" or Wedding Bells"......that myth probably arose from some sellers realizing that it rarely successfully self-sows...and if you are having problems with a species of MG successfully self-sowing after 10 years , it isn't Ipomoea tricolor... Thread addressing at least in part as to whether Ipomoea tricolor is sterile or not http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/vines/msg04092751814.html You want recommendations on a MG that should not be problematic as per any aggressive self-perpetuating in your area... The epithets followed by an asterisk are the top 3 as you requested , but all of the others would also qualify Convolvulus cneorum - clones - - perennial can be over-wintered indoors Convolvulus sabatius - clones - - perennial can be over-wintered indoors Evolvulus glomeratus - most are self incompatible clones - perennial can be over-wintered indoors Ipomoea alba - moon-flower that tens to flower very late in the season - usually grown as an annual Ipomoea indica* - most are clones - perennial usually grown as an annual - can be over-wintered indoors Ipomoea nil* - large japanese asagao types , especially the double forms - annual Ipomoea setosa - doesn't like cold - annual Ipomoea tricolor* - won't survive cold - annual Ipomoea wrightii - doesn't like cold - annual Merremia dissecta - won't self perpetuate in cold areas - annual Stictocardia beraviensis - most are clones - perennial can be over-wintered indoors Turbina corymbosa - won't survive cold - perennial can be over-wintered indoors The reason the forums exist is so we can share information. Should you locate any source offering MG seeds or plants and you want to post it on here for feedback , I will do what I can to assist in an accurate ID... regards, Ron P.S. - davidrt28 - I noticed that you don't have the function enabled for members to send you a private message via your homepage link ... You might want to consider enabling that option...or , I invite you to send me a private e-mail message so that I can share something which I cannot post in the forum... http://www.gardenweb.com/auth/nph-logincheck.cgi?action=public_profile&user=/ron_convolvulaceae This post was edited by ron_convolvulaceae on Sun, Jul 13, 14 at 16:27

Thanks deannatoby for the article link. I read it and found it very interesting. I have very well drained soil - actually it isn't even soil really. I think my property used to be either a river bed or a rock quarry. Someone before me put on a 2" layer of topsoil or mulch but when I go down below that it quickly becomes sand and gravel. And below that I find rocks the size of footballs. I recently bought a boxwood in an 8" pot from a nursery. When I planted it I unwittingly picked a spot with a 10" rock just below the "dirt". When I removed it I had enough room to plant the new boxwood without any further digging! I have 9 Echinacea purpurea which I grew from a $2.25 packet of seed. My latest (2019) catalogue wants over $20 for a single plant - or about $180 equivalent so I guess I can be very happy with what I have!! The article said that Echinacea seeds prolifically but I have not had any success (that I know of) letting mine go to seed. It gets so wet here in the late fall that before the seed heads dry out they have already rotted from all the rain. Thanks Campanula, FrozeBudd and wantonamara for the funny stories about "visiting" other people's gardens. I love having people admire my garden and am always willing to chat and show mine off (am I vain?). I am reluctant however to knock on anyone's door and ask for a tour of theirs. However, there have been numerous occasions when someone has admired my garden and then we have walked down to their place and admired their garden. I have met lots of interesting new friends that way!