Morning Glory is a half-hardy perennial treated as a half hardy annual. It is in the convolvulus family. (Before I continue I must advise that according to the seed packet it is poisonous to humans and animals.)
The packet in question came my way some years ago from one of my 'knitting buddies' as a free seed give-away on the front of a gardening magazine. They germinated, I planted them against a fence in the back garden and they failed to thrive. This year I decided to try again. So once more to the shed where the plants did well. Then we transferred them to a very large ornamental pot (from my family) and positioned them under the eaves of the front porch.
Such has been our weather that until now (August) these poor little seedlings were a miserable yellow colour, buffeted by the wind and rain, hardly winding around the ornamental ironwork provided for them, conscientiously fed by my husband. Suddenly however they have picked up and now seem to be all over our rose Golden Showers. I was slightly disconcerted by this given their previously poor performance but I now discover on consulting The Bedding Plant Expert (1991) that they can grow to between 4' and 10'. Unchecked they might even reach our ground floor gutters. However they have still to produce the spectacular large blue trumpet-shaped flowers which Dr D G Hessayon indicates will last for one day but follow in quick succession. I inspect them every morning for buds.
All this has a certain irony. On the allotment we eradicated convolvulus/bindweed whenever we found it. The smallest inch of white root would regenerate and grow speedily. Its cossetted cultivated relation has been watched over with much care. As the old saying would lead us to believe - there is no such thing as a weed, only a plant in the wrong place.
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