It appears you planted way to late for flowers. I did the same before. Even if they do bloom, you may lose the seeds to frost.

*Sigh* … that may be it, maybe more than the soil being too rich. I’d like to learn the biology and chemistry of how a morning glory planted in late May rather than early May puts out a huge canopy of leaves but no flowers. I could understand if the lack of flowering was because the soil was too rich, especially if it there was too much nitrogen, but I don’t get why planting late gives it plenty of time and energy for several months’ worth of leaves but no flowers. But that does seem to be what's happened.

I don't think it is the late planting that is the reason. In fact, after growing MGs for a few seasons, I have come to the conclusion that they should be started late unless you are planning on covering large area with each vine. Right now, I have a single MG volunteer that started really late I am not sure when but it was May/June and it started blooming probably late last month. the thing is that the trigger for blooming is shortening day length. Is there a light close by that is disrupting the shortening daylight? If it were a smaller plantI would suggest throwing a dark shade cloth over it a couple of hours earlier than the natural end to daylight for week or so till you see buds or to protect from artificial lights that may be disrupting natural initiation of buds.

That is an interesting idea. As a matter of fact, these three plants are maybe 20-25’ from two different porch lights - my neighbor‘s downstairs as well as the neighbor across the yard. The lights aren’t strong, but they both do stay on all night. But before I go down that road, I have to consider that I’ve successfully grown Cardinal Climber and Exotic Love Vine in the same spot, both in the same Ipomoea genus as morning glory. I wonder if my neighbors didn’t keep their lights on in the previous two years. Maybe I’ll check with them.

Checking in on these almost three weeks later.... Well, I now have flower buds. I have no idea why these beautiful lush plants took till mid-September to produce buds but there it is. Now it's just a race against time. Here in zone 6b in the Boston suburbs when will we get our fall chill and then our first frost? Only the Shadow knows. Crossing my fingers...

You may get your flowers, but I doubt seeds. They will probably get hit before they can dry. Try planting earlier in the spring.

Thanks, Papnnana. Now I have dozens of clusters of buds. Very exciting.

I will be so grateful even to get flowers!

Gardening sure teaches you patience. Next year, though, those plants are going into the ground on May Day.

Jumping in here two months later... Well, I did finally get flowers. Here they are at their peak on October 24. Even though we didn't get our first frost until the first week in November, the flowers didn't really open much after the date of this photo. The nights and early mornings started dipping down into the low and mid 40s, and buds don't seem to really open much when that happens. I was very glad to get these beauties, but there were still hundreds of unopened buds when the first frost hit and I had to take these beautiful vines down.

I'm still not entirely sure why these vines flowered so late, but next year I will get the plants into the ground on May 1 rather than later in the month. Even having another week on the tail end of the season would have meant a lot to me.

As a gardener you learn to appreciate the beauty you're given, however evanescent it may be.

Butting in sort of late here, but the "problem" is the variety. I've been growing MGs for decades and Heavenly Blue can be problematic. Much like "Endless Summer" hydrangea, more often than not, you don't get any blooms until very late in the season and then the frost cuts off the show before it even peaks. Very frustrating. Many of us older people have memories of HB blooming earlier. This is because the old-fashioned, somewhat lighter blue flower, did indeed, bloom earlier (60-70 days), whereas the "improved" darker blue version introduced over 30 years ago is 115 days. You can still find the old-fashioned type on some heirloom seed sites.

Another thing you can do is start your seeds - or better yet, ask your local greenhouse to start some seeds - early, like in March and have some substaintial plants to put out in May.

Darryl, that is interesting - thank you. I do know that my Grandpa Ott is often in bloom by late July, literally months before the Heavenly Blue.

I did start these HB as seeds indoors but didn't get them in the ground until late May.

I didn't know about the introduction of the dark blue cultivar displacing the earlier light blue. I guess the dark is dominant at this point, yes? Can you suggest which heirloom seed sites offer the older light blue?