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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
Flowers
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
Attracts Butterflies
Attracts Songbirds

Planting, Growing, and Caring for Morning Glory Flowers

Written By: Catherine Boeckmann Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

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. 

Buy Seeds Now

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 morning glory seeds are poisonous, 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 (up to 9 feet deep!), 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. These plants need a lot of sun to bloom their best! 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.
  • ‘Scarlett O’Hara’ 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

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

Wit and Wisdom

growing morning glories inforgraphic

Flowers
About The Author
Catherine Boeckmann

Catherine Boeckmann

Executive Digital Editor and Master Gardener

Catherine Boeckmann is the Executive Digital Editor of Almanac.com, the website companion of The Old Farmer's Almanac. She covers gardening, plants, pest control, soil composition, seasonal and moon c...
Read More from Catherine Boeckmann

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Comments

<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 12/03/2013 - 11:07

This is the nature of a morning glory!  Nothing is wrong. Each flower will bloom in the morning and close by noon or so. Each flower only opens once, but there will be others the next day!

 <span>Ty Hardister</span> Mon, 10/28/2013 - 21:09
When I was young (in the 1950s & 60s) we had some wild morning glories growing on a wire fence beside our yard. They were multicolored with blue, pink, yellow and white growing, seemingly, on the same vine. Is this possible and if so where could I find some seeds?
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 10/29/2013 - 14:15

Hmm. We aren't aware of a native morning glory that is multicolored. We have heard of cultivated varieties that come in several colors in a series. Also, blue flowers sometimes fade to purple, pink, or white as they age. Could the plant from your yard back then have been an escaped cultivated variety, and could it be that several vines were intertwined?

 

If you're interested in multicolored morning glories, you might check seed catalogs for the Ipomoea variety mixes or series, such as from Burpee.

 

There is also a dwarf morning glory, which is Convolvulus tricolor. It is related to Ipomoea, but is a dwarf vine, growing only about 12 to 18 inches. Its flowers have a yellow center, white around that center, and then blue, purple, or pink at the edges of the petals. These are a little harder to find, but a search online will give you a few seed sources. Be sure to get a series, rather than one cultivar (which may be just one color of petal at the edge).

 <span>Joni Blymire</span> Thu, 11/14/2013 - 07:08
Are you to cut them back after first frost or just leave them .they look all dryed up .this is my first time .i hope they come back their so pretty .thanks
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Thu, 11/14/2013 - 15:42

Morning glories don't tolerate frost. They are annuals (i.e., they only grow one season) and should be discarded once frost hits. You can plant again in the spring once you're past all danger of frost.

 <span>Cherih</span> Mon, 10/28/2013 - 20:01
We have recently bought a house and on one side the front porch there is a BEAUTIFUL vine of morning glories, the problem is it is twined around a tree that my husband is going to cut down, I want to transplant the morning glory to the back yard to cover the fence for our gas tank. I have never had morning glories before and I don't want to loose them in the transplant, what do I do to transplant them, and when should I do it. My husband wants to cut the tree down ASAP. We live in NC
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Tue, 10/29/2013 - 13:14

Many morning glories of the genus Ipomoea that are found in garden centers are annuals, so after a frost or two, they will die. For NC, it looks like your first average fall frost date is in October or November, depending on where you are. If you want to save the morning glories for now, you can certainly try to transplant them gently into their new location, and they might last until the frost hits. Their roots usually don't like disturbance, so handle very gently--keep a lot of original soil around the roots. In the new location, make sure there is plenty of sun; add some compost to the planting hole. Keep the soil moist in the new location, but not soggy, for the first week or so.

 

Or, if you allow some of the flowers to form seeds, you can collect them and plant them next year at the new location.

 

If you think that your vine is a perennial type, the same advice would still apply, as far as transplanting and site preparation.

 

 

 <span>Cherih</span> Tue, 10/29/2013 - 20:52
we have already had our first frost is it to late to transplant them? can I just clip some of the vines and transplant or do I need to transplant at the roots? or should I try to save some of the seeds?
<span>Jodie Kay</span> Tue, 10/22/2013 - 18:43
do they self seed if grown indoors
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 10/25/2013 - 15:46

Morning glories need very bright light to even bloom indoors. If you succeed in growing them indoors than yes, they'll seed.