I just inspected mine a few days ago. Like you, I was ready to yank them. It seems they were planted ages ago. But - I was giving them the benefit of the doubt - mainly because we have had lots of "no sun" weather, and most warm weather vegetable plants aren't happy without sun at this time of year. Anyway, when I pulled a plant - I found 2 large ones and 2 smaller. Now I'm seriously thinking of using them as a ground cover in my yard. If - as one poster above maintains - they are a "poor soil" item - that may be one of the "winners" I'm looking for. We are in the midst of a water shortage, presently limited to 3 days per week schedule. This has prompted a lot of re-thinking on the part of some backyard gardeners, who are now converting all those lovely ornamentals to something less thirsty, so as to be able to concentrate our precious water on the plants we love the most - edibles! Sooo - don't pull those taters just yet. Just my 2 c's. Bejay

Both the purple and chartreuse are good ground covers in 8b/9a. Chartreuse is more vigorous. They die back every winter. Usually they come back in spring, but in unusually cold years they may die completely. They do not take over the way they do in S. Florida. I didn't realize it until mine had overwintered, but they bloom in spring. Just a few blooms here and there, which look like small purple morning glories. The purple blooms a lot more for me than the chartreuse does. The blooms aren't worth planting them for, but they are a nice little bonus for a few weeks in late spring. Whether they will choke out what you have in the bed already depends on what's planted there. If your other plants hold their foliage above the sweet potatoes and have reasonably strong root systems, no problem. But they would definitely overrun 12" or smaller plants. It's not so much that the roots would choke them out as they would just grow right over them and shade them out. By the way, although the purple is happier in partial shade, it will tolerate full sun IF given regular water. (Caveat: this may not be true in S. Florida.) Chartreuse will tolerate partial shade, but may be less vigorous than if grown in full sun. So you can plant them together for the color contrast, in either full sun or partial shade - they are lovely paired up.

To follow up, Gurney's finally contacted me back after about a week. They're sending a replacement order which is fantastic. Thanks for suggesting to get in touch with them! As for my slips, half just couldn't make it, but the other half are starting to make new leaves and I think I'll be planting them soon. Murasaki's seem to only need 100 days, and in Texas weather, I've got plenty of time. As for the Okinawan I bought from Baker Creek, they seem to require nearly 180 days, so it'll be cutting it pretty close for those as they're taking quite a while to ship those. Thanks so much for suggesting to contact gurney's. Glad to see some company's still care about their customers. I'm so used to a "tough luck" type of response for most other things, that it didn't even occur to me to contact them.

Speaking of a similar looking root vegetable that doesn't taste like sweet potato, I was pleasantly surprised by Dasheen. A coworker (an amateur cook who has thoroughly mastered all things potato) got them from a Jamaican friend. Botanically it's not in the sweet potato (Ipomoea), yam (Dioscorea) or regular potato (Solanum) family. It has some connection to taro and some Elephant ear plants, but I'm not clear on the fine distinctions. On the downside, it produces some oxalate and calcium oxalate. Sorry this doesn't answer the main question but I thought it worth mentioning. I've been growing ornamental sweet potato and it fills in & shades the empty areas nicely. I tried Elephant ear for the first time last year (the wind gusts were rough on them) but I don't think this variety is edible, unless you're starving.