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Morning Glory Flowers: Planting, Care & How to Grow Beautiful Vines

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

Learn how to grow morning glories safely, identify annual vs. perennial varieties, and attract butterflies and hummingbirds to your garden

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. 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 are very difficult to get rid of and allow the plant 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 are 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 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 overfertilize, 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 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
‘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

FAQ

Are morning glories annual or perennial? 

Most garden morning glories (Ipomoea spp.) are tender annuals, sensitive to frost. Some are confused with perennial bindweed, which is invasive. 

How do I tell annual morning glories from bindweed

Look at leaves and flowers: 

  • Morning glory leaves are large and heart-shaped; flowers come in pink, purple, magenta, blue, red, or white.
  • Bindweed leaves are smaller and arrowhead-shaped; flowers are small and only pink or white. 

Can morning glory seeds be eaten? 

All morning glory seeds are poisonous, especially in large amounts. Keep them away from children and pets. 

How do I plant morning glories? 

Soak seeds for 24 hours, plant after the last frost in well-draining soil, place in full sun to partial shade, and provide a trellis or support for twining vines. 

How tall do morning glory vines grow?

They can grow 6 to 10 feet in one season if supported with a trellis, pergola, or fence. 

Wit and Wisdom

growing morning glories infographic

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

<span>Patricia Beezub</span> Sat, 09/14/2013 - 16:09
my niece brought a morning glory home and it had 2 little leaves on it now it has 8 it is in a little pot and I don't know if I can plant it outside now I live in Pa.and the weather is cool
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 09/16/2013 - 14:48

Plant the morning glory in a bigger pot and put it outside in the sun. Bring it into a sheltered location if the temp. drops below 40 degrees.

 <span>Djb5718</span> Thu, 09/12/2013 - 18:48
Has flowers, losing leaves. Recently my morning glory is losing most of its leaves, although it's still flowering nicely and sending out runners. This is its second year, and last year it didn't start losing leaves until it got cold. It hasn't been cold, actually it's been hot. I thought maybe it needs more water, but I see the advice here not to water too much. This is in San Francisco.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Mon, 09/16/2013 - 15:01

Hot weather can also cause leaves to drop. Check for insect damage on the leaves that have dropped. Don't soak the plant. Give it some water right before the soil is totally dry. Add some mulch around the plant to cool the soil.

 <span>Boots Rule</span> Sat, 09/07/2013 - 14:28
Recently had OLD legustrum dug up. In between, there were several morning glories, but it seemed that they were dug up too. Now, the vines are popping up all over the place. Have they self-seeded? They are all over the place, w/no decided place to grow.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Sun, 09/08/2013 - 03:27

Yes, morning glories tends to self-seed prolifically so it's important to take care in placement.

 <span>My First Time</span> Tue, 09/03/2013 - 17:55
This is my first time with morning glories. We have a dead tree and I thought it would be fun. I got the packet from the store along with sunflowers and mixes. I put all the seeds down close to the bottom of the tree. It has grown to far up the tree that I'm afraid it's going to get into the living trees. We climbed up the later and cut the vines completely. I was also bummed that I had not seen flower yet. Across our street are woods so we threw what came down in there thinking it would die off. And for fun I stuck a vine in water. I was told it wouldn't root. It rooted after two weeks. I looked across the street a couple days after we cut the vines off the tree and I thought I saw a blue flower. I go look and what do you know the pieces we tossed are pumping out flowers like you wouldn't believe. Here it is three weeks and the vine in the woods is still producing flower. As well as the top of the tree we we cut. Now flowers are bumming all over. Is this vine like an alien ? The leaves are dead and wilted they don't look good but yet, blue flowers. I'm afraid this stuff is going to take over like the Twilight zone...
<span>Micki55555</span> Thu, 08/29/2013 - 14:00
My light blue morning glories are deep purple this year. I noticed this has happened to my neighbors also. What would cause this to happen? We both used seeds from the previous year and new seeds as well.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Fri, 08/30/2013 - 15:03

Air temperature can change the color of the flowers. The higher the temperature the lighter the color. If the soil pH changes it can also influence the color.

 <span>L. Carlson</span> Thu, 07/24/2014 - 16:06
So, do we increase or decrease the pH level to get blue blooms? I've planted Heavenly Blue for a few years and gotten purple blooms. Thank you!