Over the years I wrote about my love for Ipomea. The wonderful climber that gives lots of flowers, much-needed shade, and grows quickly is something my garden absolutely needs. I love it because of its delicate flowers, wonderfully shaped leaves, and the fact that it’s not a demanding plant, as long as you give it water, keep away from the frost and give support it will grow and flower. Another great thing is that unlike some other climbers it can grow in pots and in our climate it grows as an annual plant so it’s never in the wrong place or too big. At the end of the year, I simply pull it out, remove the support and it can be grown somewhere else in the next season. 

Most of the Ipomea varieties bloom from the beginning of July and finish by the end of the summer with the mass production of the seeds, the blue Ipomea (Ipomea tricolor- Blue Morning glory) defies the rules. This blue beauty starts blooming very late. Usually by the end of September and the beginning of October. It can bloom earlier in very hot conditions, but if the summers are normal it will postpone the blooming until autumn. 

Starting them in pots indoors can help, but they can’t be started too early, because let’s face it, we’re talking about a quickly growing vine that will grow too big and will need support in just a couple of weeks. So even if you start it in April before the last frost date it will still need a good period of 5 months to start blooming and if the autumn frost days come too soon there are big chances the plant won’t bloom at all, which obviously makes the seed collecting process harder than in the Ipomea purpurea. 

Another thing with the blue Ipomea is that it grows flowers on taller parts of the plant. It will grow at least 2 or 3 meters before it starts letting out the flower bud branches.

This being said, I have to say that I absolutely adore Ipomea tricolor and that out of all Ipomeas this is the one I love the most. The huge leaves which are most of the time bigger than the palm of the hand are decorative on their own and when the flowers start opening it’s one of the prettiest plants in the garden.

Its desire to grow taller than other Ipomeas works perfect for me, especially now that I live on the second floor. By the time it reaches the balcony it starts growing flower stems so all the flowers are located on the balcony fence giving it an even prettier look. 

Another great thing is that by the time it starts blooming the temperatures here are from 15°C to 20°C (59-68°F) which makes them bloom throughout the day. If they were blooming in July the flowers would die in the noon sun, but this way they are looking fresh even in the early evening.  

So while Ipomea purpurea plants are already over with flowering and are producing seeds, the Blue Ipomea has just started to bloom and today was the first day that it opened multiple flowers. If the weather continues to be mild it could very well bloom until December. Last year the last flowers opened in the last week of November and I removed the plant just in time to put the Christmas lights up.