How to Grow Morning Glories: The Complete Morning Glory Flower Guide

Two delicate vivid blue and pink flowers of morning glory plant in a a garden in a sunny summer garden, outdoor floral background photographed with soft focus
Photo Credit
Cristina Ionescu/Shutterstock
Botanical Name
Ipomoea tricolor, I. purpurea
Plant Type
Flower
Sun Exposure
Full Sun
Soil pH
Neutral
Bloom Time
Summer
Fall
Flower Color
Blue
Pink
Purple
Red
White
Hardiness Zone
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Special Features
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Planting, Growing, and Caring for Morning Glory Flowers

Catherine Boeckmann

Want to grow morning glories? This plant, with its romantic tendrils and trumpet-shaped flowers, is beloved by butterflies and hummingbirds. It’s often mistaken for a perennial weed with the same name. Learn how to plant and grow morning glory flowers!

About Morning Glories

NOTE: This guide is NOT about the perennial weed that shares the common name of “morning glory.” That plant is classified as a noxious weed in many states. Read more below. 

Morning glories are tender annuals, so they are sensitive to cool temperatures and late frosts. They bloom from early summer to the first frost of fall. 

Their fragrant, colorful flowers come in pink, purple-blue, magenta, or white colors. Pollinators love Morning Glories’ trumpet-shaped blooms.

Train twining morning glory vines over a pergola or arch, or use them as a dense groundcover. This drought-tolerant plant grows quickly—up to 10 feet in one season—and can self-seed fairly easily. Because of this, you’ll want to choose where you put this plant wisely! Otherwise, you may have more morning glories than you bargained for.

Warning: All , especially in large quantities. Keep them out of reach of children and pets.

Annual Versus Perennial Morning Glories

The attractive annual morning glory (Ipomoea spp.) is often mistaken for its perennial cousin, field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis), a very troublesome, invasive weed native to Europe and Asia. 

Field bindweed—also called “perennial morning glory” or “creeping jenny”—grows similarly to our annual morning glory but sends out deep, deep roots (), which make it very difficult to get rid of and allow it to overwinter in areas where cultivated morning glories could not. 

To tell the difference between the plants, look closely at the leaves, flowers, and vines:

  • The leaves of the annual morning glory are heart-shaped and large (2 or more inches across). Field bindweed leaves are shaped more like an arrowhead and smaller. 
  • Annual morning glory flowers may be pink, white, magenta, blue, purple, or red. Field bindweed flowers only occur in either pink or white, and blooms are much smaller than annual morning glory.
  • Morning glory vines are usually thicker than bindweed vines and typically have small hairs.

In any case, if you come across a plant in your garden that resembles Morning Glory and you know you didn’t plant it, it’s best to err on the side of caution and treat it as a weed. 

Read Next

Planting

Choose a sunny spot. Plant in moderately fertile, well-draining soil to encourage good foliage growth followed by plenty of flowers.

Finally, choose a location that is sheltered from strong, drying winds. Give them a fence, lattice, or trellis to climb up so that vines don’t crowd out other ground-level plants.

When to Plant Morning Glories

  • Sow seeds as early as possible after the danger of frost is over.

Purple Morning Glories

How to Plant Morning Glories

  • Germination rates are improved by filing down the seeds just enough to break the outer coat and then soaking them for 24 hours before planting. This encourages them to send out a root (it looks like a little worm). 
  • Cover lightly with 1/4-inch of soil. Space seeds about 6 inches apart.
  • Water thoroughly at planting.
  • Seedlings should appear in about a week; some seeds may be stubborn and take 2 or 3 weeks to sprout.

Growing

  • Apply a balanced liquid fertilizer after planting. Do not over-fertilize, or the vine may grow more foliage than flowers.
  • Support this climbing plant with structures like trellises, pergolas, or arches.
    • Tip: Morning glories climb by twining their vines around a support, so make sure that whichever type of structure you grow them against has plenty of space for whorling! 
  • Morning glories are low maintenance; just be sure to water during particularly dry periods.
  • Mulch to retain moisture and suppress weeds.
  • If you don’t want the plant to reseed itself, pinch off old flowers before they turn into seedpods. This can also encourage the plant to keep producing more flowers. 

Purple morning glory vining over a wooden fence

Types

  • ‘Heavenly Blue’ are the classic morning glories with rich azure (blue) flowers and white throats. These plants climb to 12 feet.
  • ‘Sٳ ’H’ has bright red flowers with a white throat. It climbs to 15 feet.
  • Here are more recommended morning glory varieties!
'Heavenly Blue' morning glory. Photo by Heike Loechel/Wikimedia Commons.
‘Heavenly Blue’ morning glory. Photo by Heike Loechel/Wikimedia Commons.
Gardening Products

Wit and Wisdom

growing morning glories inforgraphic

Pests/Diseases

Morning glories are fast-growing and are rarely bothered by pests or diseases to a significant extent.

Morning Glory Pests and Diseases
Pest/DiseaseTypeSymptomsControl/Prevention
AphidsInsectMisshapen/yellow leaves; distorted flowers; leaf drop; sticky “honeydew” (excretion) on leaves; sooty, black moldKnock off with water spray; apply insecticidal soap; inspect new plants carefully; use slow-release fertilizers; avoid excess nitrogen; encourage aphid predators such as lacewings, ladybugs, spiders
Fusarium wiltFungusPlants wilt (sometimes one-sided) in daytime; later, entire plant wilts/dies; stunting; yellow leaves; poor flowering; roots rot; stem cross-section reveals brown discolorationDestroy infected plants/ roots/surrounding soil (do not compost); remove plant debris regularly; disinfect tools; resistant varieties; avoid excess nitrogen; in acidic soils, raise pH to 7.0; weed; 3- to 5-year rotation
Leaf minersInsectMeandering blisters in leaves caused by tunneling larvaeRemove infested leaves; weed; use row covers; till soil early in season; rotate plantings
Leaf spot (fungal)FungusVaries; leaf spots on lower leaves enlarge and turn brown/black; fuzzy growth or pustules in lesions; disease progresses upward; leaves dieDestroy infected leaves/ severely infected plants (do not compost); remove plant debris regularly; disinfect tools; resistant varieties; good air circulation; avoid overhead watering
RustFungusVaries; orange pustules on undersides of lower leaves/stems; spots on upper leaf surfaces; foliage distorts/ dies/drops; stunting; poor flowering; plants weakenedDestroy infected parts/severely diseased plants; remove plant debris regularly; disinfect tools; resistant varieties; good air circulation; avoid overhead watering; weed
Flowers
About The Author

Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann loves nature, stargazing, and gardening so it’s not surprising that she and The Old Farmer’s found each other. She leads digital content for the website, and is also a certified master gardener in the state of Indiana. Read More from Catherine Boeckmann
 

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Comments

Lorraine McKibben (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

At what stage can I preserve seeds for next year. Can they be taken from the plant green or do they need to stay on plant?

Editors (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

With morning glories, you want to cut their stalks when most of pods are brown. Otherwise, the pods will shatter in the garden. Dry until crisp. Then rub or beat until most of pods have broken up. Store seeds in dry, cool and dark conditions in moisture-proof, airtight containers such as jars, foil or waxed packages.

Tricia (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

Sorry, technical difficulties with previous post.
To sum up: will them MG take over other plants? What should I do to preserve mg, grape vine and pear tree?

Tricia (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

My morning glories have never looked more beautiful! I live in north Texas. My concern is the vine has grown over to my grape vine trellis, which was healthy this year too. Now I'm even seem some purple flowers up my pear tree, which sits in

felix (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

here we are in october12 and my plants are full of flowers we have had two days at sero when do you think they might die of i want them seeds i live in guelph ont
there is no blue ones thy are in my nabor,s yard
I get pink she gets blue go figer

The difference in flower color depends on the pH (acidity) of your soil: Morning glories contain an anthocyanin called “heavenly blue anthocyanin” which changes from purplish red at pH 6.6 to blue at pH 7.7. (pH famously affects the color of hydrangea blooms, but many other plants are affected too.) You can change the pH of your soil; see here for more on that: http://www.almanac.com/content/ph-preferences You can prepare your soil now for next year’s planting.

As for the seeds, you want to wait until the plant dies from frost and the seed pods dry naturally. Check your first frost date here (scroll down for Canadian provinces and follow the prompts to your city; note that this is an historical average): http://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates/states

SUSAN (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

I purchased seeds of morning glorys when is the best time of year to plant them I live in Indiana

Mark (not verified)

8 years 1 month ago

As several others have posted, my morning glories have not bloomed this season. Even the plants where morning glories have grown and bloomed for several years past. I tried an experiment--- I girdled the stems on 2 of the 3 plants. I used a razor knife and scraped off the first couple of layers of the stem. It's now a week later and the two plants I cut don't look like they have been harmed but they are now forming hundreds of flower buds. The other plant I left untouched has no sign of a flower bud. I'll let you know if they end up blooming. Hopefully soon---frost is not far off!

I had the same problem this year. We had to wait to plant this year in the northeast due to late frosts. So this may have had something to do with the really late growth. Mine didn't even come up til late in the summer. When they did.....no flowers. I went on the internet and found out I made a big mistake. I fed them with plant food when I fed everything else. I did finally get flowers by September.