Ipomoea aquatica Seeds | Swamp Morning Glory
LATIN NAME: Ipomoea aquatica
COMMON NAME: Swamp Morning Glory
Plant Profile
Ipomoea aquatica, better known as Swamp Morning Glory, is a vine. Swamp morning glory opens its wide, rosy trumpets over wet ground, and vine spreads across shallow water. Young leafy shoots have a place in warm kitchens of wet lands, and plant is a fine, generous presence of water garden. It is a plant of open, sunny, shallow, wet ground. When it flowers, local bees and other insects make good use of it. Put simply, this is a rewarding species for anyone willing to give it a suitable spot.
Science & Biotechnology
Seed science, comparative botany and horticultural selection all touch on Ipomoea aquatica, a representative of the Ipomoea group with clear practical value. Its behaviour in gardens is well recorded, thanks to a long history in cultivation.
Uses & Benefits
Swamp Morning Glory brings genuine presence to the garden and earns its keep across the growing season. Swamp morning glory is a fine, generous vine of wet bed and water garden. Keep young plants in shallow, wet bed, and trumpets will open in the first warm season. To grow swamp morning glory from seed, nick dark seeds with nail file, soak them for a few hours, then set them a centimetre down in pot of fine, gritty soil. It takes hold quickly and asks for no special treatment from then on.
Morning glories carry a split identity: sweet potato is a world staple rich in beta-carotene, the ornamental vines are garden favorites, and the seeds of some species contain ergoline alkaloids that are not for any use. Enjoy the flowers and the tubers.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed of Swamp Morning Glory under ordinary good conditions. Fill a pot with a light seed compost, sow evenly on the surface, cover thinly and stand it somewhere warm, bright and evenly moist. Shift the seedlings into small pots as soon as they can be handled, and give them bright light until planting-out time.
Our Take
Swamp Morning Glory repays a little patience at sowing time with plenty of garden presence later.
Related Reading
More species in the same orbit as Swamp Morning Glory: