It's now April 14th. The moonflowers are the young seedlings pictured in the center row. In the back row are Heavenly Blue Morning Glories. Black-eyed Susan Vine seeds are just starting to push through the soil in the front row. By mid-May all the seedlings were large enough to move outside to begin hardening off for a period of about 10 days.
May 26th. Deer are a major problem where I live, so I grow many of my plants in pots to keep them out of their reach. Since I didn't have a tall trellis for my moonflowers to climb, I improvised and used a tomato cage instead. For extra climbing supports, I attached additional strands of fishing line to the framework of the cage. A day or so later, I also added some indoor sown Heavenly Blue Morning Glory seedlings to the pot.
It's now a month later, June 26th. The vines have definitely grown. Since there are Heavenly Blue Morning Glories also planted in the pot with the Moonflowers, I really can't tell which is which right now.
July 28th. The vines are beginning to climb over the top of the tomato cage now. The purple flower in the yellow pot is a poppy, Lauren's Grape. I tend to group a lot of different flowerpots on my front porch.
August 26th. Moonflower buds. Notice the bottom bud? The bud is much more pronounced.
Later the same day. August 26th ... There is another Moonflower bud on the vine that is about to open.
Ta Da! My very first Moonflower!
Who could ask for more? Heavenly Blue Morning Glories to welcome the day.
And gorgeous Moonflowers to brighten the onset of evening!
Lovely article and photos Jane! I simply love moon flowers and morning glories especially Heavenly Blue when it finally decides to bloom. Sadly I won't have any blue ones this but I do have many others. I also found out this year that deer love eating morning glories on a trellis I have in my backyard that they have left alone until now. Previously I fenced the seedlings to this since I thought the rabbits liked those. Fortunately my other one on the patio hasn't been discovered and the ones in my garden are safe within the border fence.
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