Hey there red (can I call you red?)

It is not illegal to grow them here and I've never heard of anyone getting a slap on the rist. We all kind of have fun with it because they're hard to get........most companies have the 411 on the don't ship this to AZ, so we are left to finding companies that are a tad out of the loop still, traders, and buying from ebay.

I think once upon a time GardenWeb would have pulled one of our posts if it had Morning glory in the text (like they used to do with water hyacinths) so we would call it by another name. Now that time is past and it's still kind of funny to call it by the other name.

BTW, we have a southwestern forum on Dave's Garden that you should visit, there's more traffic from us Arizonans over there (and a couple plumie nuts, too).

Hope you like it here!

BTW........you looking to trade any of those seeds? Would love to grow some JMG's, LMK if you are and what you might be looking for!

It is illegal to transport or ship morning glory seeds or plants into Arizona.

Thank you for the welcome. IÂm not looking to trade seeds right now. I will make a point of buying some common types like Heavenly Blue that I donÂt currently have and smuggle them in with the rest of my stash. I have decided to be totally irresponsible and risk infecting Arizona with whatever cooties Ipomoea seeds carry! I understand it actually has something to do with morning glorys "stealing" water intended for agribusiness conglomerates that grow cotton, alfalfa and other water thirsty crops that are inappropriate for a dry region.

musarojo, I believe the quarantine has more to do with MG's invasiveness than it's thirsty-ness. My understanding is that it overgrows crops in the fields and causes havoc with harvesting equipment. The vines bind up the moving parts.

I hope it is safe to assume then that I won't wreak any havoc in the cotton fields by growing it on my Mesa patio. Then again I wonder if my 3 yr old seeds (bought before I moved here) are any good.

Also, I did just recall that I've seen what looks like Heavenly Blue growing in several places along the trail at the Riparian Preserve in Gilbert. Birds?

Morning Glory seeds can remain viable for fifty years. The cultivar known as Wedding Bells was brought back into circulation using a few seeds that were over thirty years old. Your seeds should be ok. I once grew Heavenly Blue from seeds that were ten years old.

On the prohibited list:

Ipomoea spp. -- Morning glory. All species except Ipomoea carnea, Mexican bush morning glory; Ipomoea triloba, three-lobed morning glory (which is considered a restricted pest); and Ipomoea aborescens, morning glory tree,

Here is a link that might be useful: AZ ag dept page

I guess they are restricted because of the cotton growers it really messes up their harvesting equipment if it takes over their fields! About a year ago I saw some at a drug store in East Mesa, I could not believe it, I think someone made a little mistake. I have had wild ones come up in my yard but they have much smaller flowers then the commercial versions but they were real pretty, they climbed up a shovel leaning against my north wall.

My experience with Morning Glories was gardening in Northern Arizona. My neighbor grew some on his fence, about 150 feet away. The next year I was inundated with MGs. Thereafter Morning Glory was the bane of my existance, worse than the Russian Sage even.
Years before, in Michigan, the wild form, bindweed, invaded my garden, just after I finished turning over by hand. I saw new plants coming across the garden, in a straight line for maybe 15 feet. I started pulling it up and there was a lateral root about a foot down that spread like bamboo.
The cultivated version was about as bad. Too bad, the flowers are heavenly.

Norm

Hi there,

I just received a pack of heavenly blues and would like to know when I can plant. They will be in a container. Thanks

The last few years I've been seeing them sold at Walmart,HomeDepot, and Lowe's. I don't think they are worried about the home gardeners growing them. They just want to have some control over what and how much we we grow of them. Yes, years ago there was a problem with them taking over the cotton fields, before that there was the problem with them being used in the making of LSD. As long as you are growing them for to beautify your own property, now one is going to bother you over them.

They are starting to put out seeds here, so out of curiosity I looked for mg seeds. Lowes here has seeds of flying saucers mg and another dark pink one, under their own brand name. So its ok to buy them and sell them but we can't grow them or they may decide to punish us?? Good grief...

morning glorys kill the biggest agricultural revenue crop arizona has, cotton. plus it spreads like wild flower, one flower can destroy acres of cotton fields in no time at all, THIS is why they are illeagal in arizona, not because of water consumption

growing them in az can be considered attemted eco terrorism lol thats how bad they affect our cotton crops and in hand would devestate az's economy considering cotton is where az gets 3/4s of their money from...

Please take your sad fear mongering and trolling somewhere else.

"one flower can destroy acres of cotton fields"; if they were that powerful the government would have developed them into a weapon.

Perhaps you should see your doctor about having your meds adjusted, or have him place defibulator paddles on your head and give you a few refreshing jolts.

Updated prohibited weeds seeds in AZ link below.
pertinent part:
Ipomoea spp. Morning glory
All species [prohibited] except Ipomoea carnea, Mexican bush morning glory,
Ipomoea aborescens, morning glory tree,
Ipomea batatas - sweetpotato,
Ipomoea quamoclit, Cypress Vine,
Ipomoea noctiflora, Moonflower -
Morning Glories, Cardinal Climber,
Hearts and Honey Vine.

Here is a link that might be useful: Arizona Prohibited Noxious Weed Seeds

Dear tin foil troll,

I started this thread ALMOST EIGHT YEARS AGO! If you were a skilled troll you would have noticed and not made a snotty comment about "soon to be adopted state", showing everyone what a tard you are. I've grown morning glories every year, and so far haven't managed to destroy the state's cotton crop. The total acreage planted in cotton has declined in recent years, but real estate developers are the ones destroying the cotton fields, not monster-sized mutant morning glories from Hell.

Tiptoeing into this conversation....as long as you are not within a birds flying range of an agricultural crop that will be harvested with machinery, growing the lovely MG poses no threat. But if you *are* close to a high density ag endeavor, it would be neighborly to find a substitute for the lovely MG.

Peace.

What I don't understand is... all the other states that grow cotton and have much rainfall to help morning glories grow? are Arkansas and Arizona the only states that prohibit it?

From what I understand, the morning glory that's feared and prohibited is commonly called "field bind weed". The large flowered, ornamental morning glory is an entirely different plant and is not a menace like field bindweed is.

I have morning glories coming up volunteer in my back yard. About 40 years ago my mother in law gave me some seeds and I planted them. Of course they made lots of seeds.. and every

year about a dozen will come up. I let them grow long enough to enjoy their beautiful flowers ..then pull them up. The vine is kind of tough and will climb on almost anything and I have other flowers and plants I don't want getting all tangled up with them. I live near metro center mall, which is so far away from any cotton fields or crop areas that I think there is little danger. A few days ago I was in the dollar store at 35 ave and thunderbird and they had morning glory seeds for sale!! I was surprised. Another thing that is kind of a mystery.. mulberry trees are not supposed to be planted in Glendale, Az... but you can buy mulberry trees at the plant nurseries in Phoenix. Mulberries are wonderful shade trees if people don't do that pollard number on them.. there are some on our street that are over fifty years old, huge and beautiful.

Interesting. I've tried a few ornamental varieties from seed(direct sow) and mine sulked. This was during mid-summer BTW. They didn't amount to anything, although I seeded them with direct bermuda grass adjacent.

Good morning, I know this is an old thread but I still wanted to comment on the Morning Glory debate. I grew some of the blues last year, but they didn't do very well. I was nervous when I ordered the seeds because, as a horseperson and DIL to a rancher, I was told Morning Glory is also restricted because of its toxicity to horses, cattle, sheep, and goats.When I was working on the horse ranches in my younger years, that was drummed into my head-Morning Glories are a big no no for horses, etc. I dont think it is lethal(dont quote me on this), but it will make them sick, especially if they eat the seeds. I think mine didnt do well because I planted them in pots lol. I love the plants themselves, but I live on a hobby farm next to sheep pastures, horses, etc and I didnt want anyone freaking out. Anyway, that has been my Morning Glory experience. Good day to you all.

I know everyone seems to think... "oh I'm just growing them in my home garden not near agricultural areas... " however think of this... birds can fly many miles and they take the seeds eat the seeds, fly around and poop Out the seeds. So even though you think it's ok, it's not. It can cost farmers big and small an age will it if money not just thousands but tens of thousand up to hundreds of thousand to fix or replace machines and equipment all because of a few illegal flower seeds. If you think it's not your problem if your illegal seeds cost someone else their lively hood think again. The laws are there for a reason even if you don't agree or understand them.

It irks me to no end to see such selfish behavior. It's teminds me of people who drink and drive and think it's ok for them because they won't get caught Or that it's just 2 drinks. It only takes 1 seed to cause havoc of it others. So please think again.

And yes I know this post is from years ago...but I posted because people do search and read past posts and thought it really needed to be said

I live in Tucson and have wild morning glories in my back yard and domesic Heavenly Blues in my front yard. The wild ones have a tiny blue flower. A neighbor had a small bush of them growing in his front yard. The next year I had a single vine in my back yard. Now my whole back yard gets covered with then if we have a good monsoon. This year they sprouted up and barely any survived at all, but I noticed a few sparce scarggely plants managed to bloom and I know they'll be back once we get good summer rains again.

I planted the heavenly blues in the front yard and they grew well without a single bloom until the temps hit tripple didgets. They did not like the heat and my only hope was to nurse them along until we got cooler temperatures. Finally, we got cooler temperatures in mid October and they started to bloom like crazy. I havent noticed any seed setting yet though. So far the blooms just fall off without setting any seed. I'm hopefull some seed will set before frost set in because I planted all the seed I had.

It's my belief that Arizona's ban on morning glories has more to with courting the votes of farmers than any real threat to agriculture. I mean who would want to grow the native weedy ones when there are far more showy varities to grow?

I used to live in AZ and the stores like H Depot and Lowes etc sold the seeds there so it cant be too illegal.

You can buy the type of MG that does not set seed. It can still be invasive because it spreads by runners. I have mine in a huge pot without drainage holes and cut off all low runners at least monthly. You can buy them in San Diego nurseries. They closed the agricultural checkpoint at Yuma. Just saying . . .