Another blue

I start them after frost is not likely, and so they bloom very late. Usually in August. But ones in restricted pots seem to bloom earlier than ones in the ground.
A lifetime ago, a seed house offered a blue like the dark one. They called it 'Gentian Blue' and it has a much smaller light throat. No longer offered, for years.

hello! before posting i want to say, it was your enthusiastic posts that prompted me to join GW. this is my first post.

i love MG's, but i haven't had very much success with them yet. i bought a number of JMG seeds from an enthusiast on ebay, and this is the first and only bloom i've had so far. it looked a lot like a fairly typical Gramdpa Otts to me, which i wasn't expecting (the fun of open pollination), but i was happy to see it in any case.

Hi Shady, thank you and welcome to Gardenweb! That is a fine Photo of Ipomoea purpurea. It could be Grandpa Ott's MG.

Here are some more I have growing.

Here is a nice youjiro MG with variegated leaves.

A blizzard Japanese morning glory, no variety name.

Thank you, Gerris! I think I've got a good deal of learning ahead of me before I can grow morning glories as well as you do.

Your morning glories are really stunning. I love how, in the first of your three new pictures, the eye is brought back again and again to the wonderful variegated foliage by the strong lines of contrast the flowers create. The rough texture of the leaves in your second picture is fascinating, especially against the near-perfect symmetry of the youjiro-type flower. I really shouldn't keep going on, but suffice it to say, I also like the third one quite a lot.

I hope it's not too long before I can get a few plants to where yours are!

Cheers, Nik
('shady' is just a description of my patio).

Thanks so kindly, Nik, you made my day.

I always try to compose the photo to include views of the leaf. It's the way the Edo Period Japan artists painted their views of the MGs, so I try to mimic their work using a camera.

Not at all! What a wonderful way to compose your photos. I do have a bit of familiarity with the culture and history of asagao in Japan, and years of experience with cameras, but I doubt I'd have ever made the connection you did.

That's another wonderful specimen. Looking at the leaves, it seems like a few of them aren't the typical heart shape. Is that a trait that frequently accompanies the split flower, do you know? I bought a couple "hige" style seeds that are supposed to produce split flowers (and a few double splits); I've noticed a couple of my young vines produce thinner, more spear-like leaves, and I've wondered if those are the hige.

That split petal Ipomoea purpurea has cordate and trilobed leaves. It isn't one of the hige type of purpurea flowers, however.

I bet your hige will be awesome!

Here is a dark version of what I guess is Grandpa Ott's MG. It's dark as night.

I love the indigo-violet morning glories. It's such an elusive hue, never quite letting you decide exactly what color it is. Even with fairly "typical" purpureas there can be such subtle and interesting differences! Your (possibly) Grandpa Otts have an almost black star pattern and a strong pink transition into the throat, where as the star on mine was more fuchsia, and the throat was mostly white.

Here's a picture of the suspected hige, although I just realized this doesn't offer a very good impression of the leaves. It hasn't ever produced much vine, but it flushed out a couple of the leaves you see over the last week since the transplanting, so I think it's taking nicely to its new environment.

Those are very interesting leaves! I look forward to further developments!

Look at these mutant JMG leaves!

Here is Joyce Cobb Ipomoea purpurea, which I was told today looked like cultivar Rebecca. I'm still a student.

Those leaves look more like claws! How fascinating. And I love the pattern the various colors form in those I. purpurea.

I'll definitely share pictures when that small vine blooms. There's another in the next pot over with nearly the same leaves, and it has started what might be a flower bud already. I snapped another picture to better illustrate the leaves they're producing, especially since the last picture didn't show their variegation at all. Not only are the leaves an interesting shape, but some of them seem to have the habit of curving directly downwards after maturing a bit. At first I thought they were wilting, but the leaves are always firm when they do this.

Here's another picture you might find interesting. This vine dropped all its leaves after the transplant, and at first glance it looks a little pitiable. But the bud is healthy, and the sepals make me believe it's an Ipomoea nil. What really excites me is all the new growth nubs; for most of the week, I was sure this one was a goner.

There is a Japanese concept you may have heard of called "wabi-sabi" which is very important in the arts, gardening, etc. If you are indeed familiar with it, you can smile at my clumsy attempt to explain it. Basically the idea encourages people to accept and embrace the changing and imperfect reality of nature. For me at least this sad, beautiful vine is a great example of that.

But I'll be sure to share a picture when it's got leaves and flowers too!

This post was edited by shady_10b on Thu, Aug 14, 14 at 0:37

You have a natural bonsai going in that last photo, nice!

I liked the long slender central lobe of the leaf photo you showed. Could it be willow leaf mutation, I wonder?

Thank you for appreciating the mutant leaf Ipomoea nil photo I posted. Most comments I get are related to if the plant is diseased or infested.

-Joseph

No no, thank you Joseph! Your photos and feedback are really a great source of inspiration and motivation. I also had a bit of knowledge about the different kinds of mutant leaves, but that was the first time I'd actually seen a "dragon claw" type. It really does look very much like a claw!

I would love if this one I've been doting over turns out to have the willow-leaf gene! I have a two other young plants that seem to be natural bonsai. I think they're "Asa Yume", which should produce pink single flowers with a blizzard pattern. I tried to keep track of where I planted what, but that feel apart quickly. If I want to do that next year, I'll have to make a point of starting them in their own small pots instead of sewing them directly into the big ones. Not that I'm disappointed; I like both ways of doing it: putting different seeds together in a jumble, or showing the characteristics of one type alone.

Oh, and I have to say, I really love the lighting in your last picture. It's dramatic in its own right, but you've also used it to great effect to show the qualities of this plant: the roughness of the leaves, the ruffled edges of the flower, and its silky-looking center. The way the leaves and flower sort of blend into the shadows is a very classically Japanese aesthetic.

this is a non-climbing Ipomoea nil "Solid White Creeper".

the teapot is filled with stones and gravel up to the top of the inside spigot holes, and i used a small basket-type coffee filter to separate the soil (potting soil and sand). i have to turn it about 90 degree over to really drain the water. i've been covering it with my hand, just in case, and the soil remains stable. since this is a vine, i can keep doing that, i think, and just slip the base of the vine between my fingers.

shady_10b you aren't kidding about those indigo-violets never quite letting you decide what color they are! My Star of Yelta is tricky that way. Every picture I take from the same plant looks like it could be a different variety! I can never ever get a "true color" picture...they still look nice though!

Finally what I thought it was Yukihana, flowered. To my surprise it didn't resemble what I thought it was. It seems somehow I mixed up my labels.

I believe it is the Maisugata x Yaguruma cross.

Can you confirm it Gerris?

Nevertheless it's lovely! Reminiscent of an ink blotch on white parchment paper...

That looks similar to the one I called 'Thomas Francis Cozzone'.

Thanks Gerris, This is one of your seeds. I don't have Thomas Francis Cozzone. The only white edged ones I have are Kiyomi, Little Darling (none of which I sowed) and Maisugata x Yaguruma cross, which I did sow.

I have put a note "youjiro" as leaf form for M x Y, if it makes any sense.

Also the flower size is small, more like Ipomoea purpurea, approx. 2" wide.

I'm sorry you're not happy. It is a nice flower nevertheless.

I never said that. I think it's breathtakingly beautiful :-)

So excited today. My Yukihana flowered. I was a bit confused at first as I thought it's the same vine as Maisugata x Yaguruma/Thomas Francis Cozzone. And then noticed two vines at the base of the arbor. I wonder how they got mixed.

It's a very hard MG to photograph, and it is lovely :-)

That's a fabulous blizzard flower. Wow congrats!!!

Here is a first ever flower on this plant, species Ipomoea verbascoidea. I love the intense pink/purple color.

Lovely Gerris,

Here is Seiun, been rather stingy lately. But I can't complain now, can I?

Seiun is nothing short of fabulous!! Mine just made its first flower today!

Here is a new one for me, a blue-purple kikyozaki Ipomoea nil.

Lovely one Gerris.

Joseph, I have that MG. The seeds are the color of peanut-butter, but it has a different name. Such a huge flower, beautiful shape and color.

Here's my Seiun, I am in heaven with this JMG.

Here is a flower of a perennial MG, Ipomoea albivenia. It opens at sunset and is nicely fragrant.

Here is a reverse tube mutant Japanese MG (Ipomoea nil). I am liking these unusual flowers very much.