IPOMOEA: DESCRIPTION OF COMMON SPECIES AND VARIETIES (WITH PHOTO)

In gardens, parks and gardeners, you can often see fences, gazebos and house walls entwined with green lianas with bright, large colors of rich colors similar to small gramophone records. This is the ipomoea, in another way, the fabricis is probably one of the most common garden vines. Now there are about five hundred species of this plant, of which about 25 are used by gardeners.

Although ipomoea hails from the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, it is unpretentious and can grow in all weather conditions. Ipomoea bloom from July to October. Flowers open in the morning, often among the first, so some species call morning glory - morning shine. The flowers are open until the afternoon, their color is blue, white, purple, pink, dark lilac, purple, it can be two-colored, sometimes it changes during the day. Gardeners are constantly getting new shades and colors of the Ipomoea, bringing new varieties.

Kvamoklit

Ipomoea kvamoklit (Quamoclit) is now allocated in a separate subgenus. This is a one-year liana, originally from the tropics of America. The name kvamoklit has long been synonymous with Ipomoea and was used to classify this kind of convolvulata by many scientists. Kvamoklit is one of the most beautiful woven lianas, grows in length up to 5 m. She has carved lush leaves and small bright flowers of different shades.

Curly perennials will help to decorate not only a flowerbed, but also a summerhouse: actinidia, Amur grapes, wisteria, petilated hydrangea, girlish grapes, honeysuckle, clematis, climbing rope.

This species of ipomei includes the following species:

Kvamoklit Slaughter (Cardinal Ipomoea) is a one-year liana hailing from Central and South America. Grows on average to one and a half meters. It has light green leaves with a length of up to 7 cm. It blooms from July to mid-autumn, the flowers are rich red (similar in color to the cardinal mantle).

Important! When breeding Slaughter's kamoklit, one should take into account that this species breeds only by seeds.

Kvamoklit (cypress liana). The second name comes from the external similarity of the leaves with the needles of cypress. This ipomoea also came from South and Central America in 1629. It winds, grows quickly, reaches a length of 5 m. The leaves are openwork, light green, the flowers are small, no more than 3 cm in diameter, have a pronounced star-shaped form when opened. Bloom from late July to September. The main color of the flower is carmine red, but it is white or pink. Under the name "Twinkling Stars" on sale you can find a mixture of seeds of plants of these three shades.

Kvamoklit fire-red (beauty star) hails from the same edges as the previous ones. It differs from its predecessors in the whole heart-shaped shape of the leaves. The stem is thin, stretched to 3 m. The flowering period is short, only one month in June - July. The flowers are bright scarlet with a yellow center, up to 1 cm in diameter. Unfortunately, at the end of August, after the seeds ripen, the stalks of the kamoklit are drying up, the vine is losing all its attractiveness. In this regard, fiery red ivy mine is more suitable. It has beautiful leaves, flowers are larger, and the period of preservation of decorative longer.

Kvamoklit (Spanish flag or starved convolvulus) cultivated since 1841 and arrived from southern Mexico. Stems in this creeper reddish, twisting, grow up to 3 m. The leaves are heart-shaped, three-lobed. Droplet-shaped flowers, up to 3 cm long, are collected in vertical inflorescences, the length of which reaches 40 cm. Dissolving, the flowers change colors: from red to orange and, fully open, to light yellow or creamy white. It blooms from August and often before the first frost.

Cairo

Ipomoea Cairo (Ipomoea cairica) initially grew in the subtropics of Asia, Africa and Australia. The shoots of this species of morning glory hover to a height of 5 m. The stems are smooth, round, green, tuberiform roots. The leaves are round, deeply dissected. Flowers are bright, red, white, purple or lilac, up to 6 cm in diameter, collected in several pieces on short common stems. Liana grows thickly, and on the shoots just a huge number of flowers are scattered, it turns the plant into a flowering carpet. It blooms for three months - from July to September. In the fall, tubers can be dug up and stored until next season on racks or in tanks with a loose substrate.

Familiarize yourself with the rules for growing other lianas for your plot: tunbergia, kampsis, kobei, sweet pea, honeysuckle honeysuckle, kaletegy terry.

Purple

Ipomoea purpurea (Ipomoea purpurea) originates from the tropics of South America. This is also a perennial plant. Purple Ipomoea can grow to a length of 8 m, its leaves and stem shortly pubescent. The leaves are rounded, heart-shaped, on a long petiole. Stem and leaves shortly pubescent. Ipomoea purple flowers about 7 cm in size, collected in clusters. Initially, they were purple, but now the efforts of breeders can also be red, pink and even dark purple, but always with a white corolla. Flowering begins in July and continues until the first autumn frosts. In clear weather, the buds open early in the morning, but close before noon, on cloudy days, the buds remain open longer. Since this ipomoea was cultivated at the beginning of the 17th century, and all this time remained attractive to gardeners, breeders worked well on it: the variety of its varieties is quite large, and each year new products appear. Its such grades are widely known:

Star Scarlet - Cherry flowers with white edges, bloom very abundantly;
Scarlett O'Hara - flowers are red;
Grandpa Otts - flowers rich purple;
Sunrise serenade - pink flowers;
Milky Way - flowers are white with pink stripes;
Split personality - pink flowers;
Caprice - Flowers rich crimson;
Kniola black knight - dark maroon flowers with a pink base.

Tricolor

Ipomoea tricolor (Ipomoea tricolor) hails from the jungles of America. It is a climbing vine with branched stems extending to a height of 4.5-5 m. Wrinkled leaves, large, rounded, heart-shaped, elongated, with long petioles. Flowers with a diameter of up to 10 cm, collected in the outlet for several pieces. They are sky-blue with a white mouth at the beginning of flowering, which lasts one day for each flower, becoming purple-pink by the end. Flowers open in the morning and open until noon (in some varieties until evening), on an overcast day they can be revealed all day. Since the ipomoea tricolor is cultivated since 1830, breeders managed to bring out a lot of interesting subspecies and varieties. The following are now widely used:

Blue Star - flowers saturated blue with white center;
Summer sky;
Flying saucers - flowers are bright blue with white strokes going from the edge to the center;
Wedding bells;
Pearly Gates - flowers milky white with a yellow middle;
Sky blue - flowers sky blue or purple, center white with yellow;
Sky blue enhanced - it has more flowers, and the colors are richer;
Rainbow flash;
Skylark.

Did you know? There are several types of Ipomoea, in the seeds of which psychoactive substances are found, in particular ergin. 100 mg of seeds up to 35 mcg of ergin and 15 mg of its derivatives, all of them are LSD alkaloids and are similar in their effects to them, although they are weaker. Native American shamans used ipomoea seeds in their practices.

Nile

Ipomoea Nile (Ipomoea nil) hails from the tropics of Asia. Our perennial plant is grown as an annual. The stems of this convolvula grow quickly, grow to 3 m, strongly branching. The leaves are oval or heart-shaped, on long stems. Flowers up to 10 cm in diameter, red, purple, blue, pale blue, pink with a white middle. Bud blooms one day, opens early in the morning and is open until noon. It blooms from July to mid-autumn. This vine has been cultivated for a very long time. It is not known where and when it began, but in the VIII century of the glory moment Nile came to Japan, initially as a medicinal plant. And since the beginning of the seventeenth century, this bindweed has become very popular there. It was the Japanese who made a huge contribution to the development of varieties of this vine. Each of them differs in size, terry and color of buds, timing of flowering and care. Particularly noteworthy varieties suitable for our climate:

A series of varieties of Early Call Mixed;
Serenade;
Chocolate;
Morning call.

Ivy-shaped

The homeland of Ipomea ivy-shaped (Ipomea hederacea) is tropical America. It owes its name to the similarity with ivy. This is a one-year liana with a branching stem that winds, growing to 3 m. The trifoliate leaves are elongated and pointed. Flowers reach 5 cm in diameter, most often blue with white edging, but there are also red, pink or burgundy. It blooms from mid-summer to late autumn. The buds open early in the morning, they wither by noon, and the next morning new flowers will bloom.

Ipomoea Ipomoea cultural divorced from the beginning of the XVII century, not very common. Garden varieties were bred in which the flowers are large, blue or dark purple with a white edge or white. Variety Roman Candy received motley, green and white leaves, cherry flowers with a white middle.

Sky blue

Ipomoea Sky Blue (Ipomoea Heavenly Blue) refers to the species of tricolor, comes from southern Mexico. It is grown as an annual liana, for a year it grows up to 3 m.

Important! Ipomoea Sky blue, in particular its stems and seeds, are poisonous.

Stems are smooth, leaves are rather wide, heart-shaped. The buds are very beautiful: sky-blue with a white throat, large - up to 10 cm in diameter. Flowering begins in July and blooms until the first frost. In Britain, where this variety is very popular, it is called morning glory (morning glory), because it opens its buds before other colors, and during the day turns them behind the sun several times. Liana belongs to the heat-loving and light-loving, does not tolerate stagnant water, multiplies seeds, planting is better to do in early May.

Batata

This ipomoea is grown all over the world: in South America, China, New Zealand, Polynesia, the Mediterranean and many African countries. But not for decorative purposes. Ipomoea sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is a valuable food plant with large sweet tubers, it is also called sweet potato. The sweet potato is a perennial climbing plant, the stems are drawn up to 30 m, therefore, in food varieties, the stems need to be cut periodically, the leaves are large, deeply carved, trifoliate or five lobed with sharp ends, of a very beautiful shape. For a long time, yam multiplied vegetatively, because many varieties have lost the ability to bloom, while the rest of the flowers are small, funnel-shaped, white-pink-lilac colors, beautiful like most ipomey.

Did you know? The name "sweet potato" is taken from the Arawak language - Indians of South America, where the plant itself comes from.

Initially, yam was grown as a food crop, but over time, the decorators and gardeners noticed it. This liana was cultivated for wide, up to 150 mm, spectacular foliage, swaying on long cuttings, having a lot of shades: from yellowish and light green to reddish and dark purple. There are varieties with variegated leaves and pinkish or white spots on a green leaf. Most often, these varieties combine with each other and with other types of Ipomoea, as seen in the photo, to produce magnificent, colorful compositions of flowers and leaves of different colors.

Decorative sweet potatoes in our latitudes are grown as an annual plant, propagated by tubers or cuttings. This is a heat-loving plant, so often young seedlings are started to grow in the house, and then transplanted into the open ground.

Many food varieties are quite decorative, and in the food can be used not only the tubers, but the leaves with stems. Some varieties of sweet potatoes make natural dyes for juices, jams and other products.

Moon blooming

Ipomoea lunar flowering (Ipomoea Noctiflora) is from the tropical part of America, a perennial plant belongs to nocturnal species of lianas. Previously, this species stood out in a separate genus, but now counted among the ipomoea. This winding branching vine grows to a height of 3 m, shoots can stretch to 6 m in length. The leaves are medium, heart-shaped, turning into a three-finger. They create a dense cover that does not allow light and water. Flowers with large buds up to 15 cm in diameter of snow-white, less often white-pink color, with a pleasant, strong, sweet-almond aroma. Flowers bloom towards the end of the day at sunset, the bud opens with a light pop, blooms all night, and withers by morning. Grows rapidly, the flowering period - from the end of July until the first frost. Cultivated since the end of the XVIII century. Since this is a night vine, it is good for urban decoration of buildings and places visited in the evening.

It grows well in almost any nutrient soil, although it prefers dense moist loams. Growth needs good support. Diseases and pests are rare, responds well to watering and feeding. Propagated as seeds and layering. Ipomes of any of the above types look good on the walls around the gazebos, on the lattice windows and balconies, at the entrance to the house. This wonderful plant will decorate any yard or garden.