easy to Grow Morning Glories – a privacy screen from seeds

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Growing morning glories is so easy and rewarding.  They can easily cover a fence, pergola or trellis with beautiful blooms in a few weeks.  I share how to grow morning glories so you can enjoy their beauty without worrying about them becoming the pest many claim they can be. 

How to grow morning glories.  It is so easy that in some areas they are considered invasive.  They easily come up from seed, reseeding themselves all over your garden if you don’t keep them in check.   But that is the blessing of easy to grow flowers but also their curse.  Any avid gardener has no problem though and neither will you if do it right.   

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Heavenly blue morning glory with text overlay, Grow Morning Glories, Flower Patch Farmhouse

This lovely variety named Flying Saucer, is so fun, each bloom is uniquely striated and splashed with color.

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Why grow morning glory?

If you are looking for a great, fast growing climber that will knock your socks off with an abundance of blooms, give Morning Glories a try.  They can quickly and easily cover a trellis or fence you may wish to use as a privacy wall. 

Want to add some summer blooms to a climber rose that only flowers once?  Add some morning glory seeds at its feet and enjoy the morning glory blooms climbing up the rose canes for all summer color. 

Climbing an obelisk or trellis they add height to the garden and vertical interest. Perfect for the small garden since they take up very little ground space. 

How to Grow Morning glories from seed

I get my seeds from Botanical Interests or Renees Seeds and I have no trouble in getting them to grow.  I begin by soaking the seeds in warm water overnight, I don’t bother with nicking the seeds, the soaking seems to do the job just fine.

For an early start plant them inside 6 – 8 weeks before you last frost date, when starting them inside I use poo pots.   Morning glories do not like their roots disturbed so starting them in biodegradable pots that you just place in the ground when it is time is the way to go.  Just fill the pots with potting soil and place the seed in the soil. Press down gently.  You don’t want the seed too deep, about half an inch is great. Water well and keep in a warm place. 

Want to see my set up for seed starting indoors? I have used this method for 10 plus years and it is still working today.

 Many of these reseed themselves vigorously and come up in droves, Grandpa Ott seems to like it here and is abundant in my Secret Garden.

It covers my back fence and the trellis that hides the untidy underside of my  back deck.  These were all volunteers that came up from seeds dropped the previous year.

When to plant morning glories

I already shared about indoor planting of morning glories but they readily grow from direct sowing in the garden.  Wait until 1 to 2 weeks AFTER your last frost date.  Morning glories do not tolerate the cold.

Morning glories like full sun and well draining soil.  They will tolerate some shade and pour soil but won’t flower as much.  

Milky Way morning glory

The white with stripes is called Milky Way and is as prolific as Grandpa Ott..though the folks at Swallowtail Seeds call it Blue Star.

Now I had a really neat thing happen, Milky Way and Grandpa Ott have cross pollinated and now I have this sweet beauty in my garden..this has no name that I know of but it is pretty all the same and another heavy self seeder here.

Blue morning glory with purple star center

How to Care for Morning Glories

Morning glory plants are very easy to care for.  Just keep them moist but not soaking.  In full sun they many need watering once or twice a week. If grown in containers they may need watering more often. 

To keep them from sprouting up all over your garden just dead head the spent blooms before they go to seed. 

Heavenly Blue Morning Glory

One of my very favorite colors of Morning Glory is Heavenly Blue, it is a blue color that is hard to come by in the flower world and I just love it, though it takes a long time for mine to finally bloom, I always give it a spot in my garden.

NOTE: Heavenly Blue flowers are larger than the others and never fails to make me smile. Heavenly Blue is a bit more finicky than other morning glories. It likes it HOT and we don’t get that much dry hot weather.  I won’t get blooms from Heavenly Blue morning glory until nearly Fall but warmer areas that have longer summers they will give you all summer blooms. Other varieties blooms much earlier and longer for me but I always want Heavenly Blue, the color is unmatched. 

How to Keep Morning Glory plants from becoming Invasive

Many will read this article and immediately respond how invasive or out of control Morning Glory becomes, some states have banned growing them.  But as with any easy growing plant that readily reseeds the way to keep them in line is not that hard.  

Weeding will always be a necessary evil of gardening. We know we will have to weed any ground left bare.  Mulching is a fantastic way to keep seeds from coming up where you don’t want them.  Mulch in Fall for a good ground cover over winter and again in Spring before seedlings sprout. This will smother a good portion of volunteers.  I also will merely skim the surface with my trowel or little shovel when an area starts to sprout up seedlings that I don’t want. This cuts them off at soil level and they die. 

Bright pink morning glory, La Vie en rose

These came from the La Vie en Rose collection at Swallowtail Seeds.

Special Note

Earlier I mentioned that morning glories do not like their roots disturbed but I have successfully dug them up in the garden and transplanted them.  I will include a video soon of how I accomplished that but the short version is I take a shovel, dig deep under the seedlings, scoop up a mass and move to a new location.  

What Morning Glories are you going to grow this Summer?
Just a final FYI, most parts of the morning glory plant and seeds are poisonous if ingested.

There is also a perennial morning glory but it is only hardy in Zone 10.

More easy garden tips
Start a garden for Beginners
DIY Easy Garden Obelisk
Clematis, how to grow, prune and propagate

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15 Comments

  1. Love that cross pollinated photo of Grandpa Ot and Milky Way- beautiful!
    Very informative post!

  2. What a fun way to reuse those coffee pods! Great idea. I don’t use those type but I am sure some of my friends may, I need to ask around and try this.

  3. Robin Bridges says:

    I love them I live in the city I’m pure county gril I grow them in pots on my pouch but I found out a easy way to start them I use my old coffee pods I take out the coffee being sure not to tair that paper filter from the bottom when the seed starts to grow then cut out the bottom of the pod and plant the hole thing

  4. That does provide a sort of mini greenhouse, just don’t do it when it is summer, you will cook your plants.

  5. I’ve seen people cut the bottom of a milk jug and place with out lid over plant. Still gets sun and water. I’m thinking of trying this.

  6. I am not exactly sure what you are saying here but I have had no issue with them not clinging to the trellis and stay aloft.

  7. Do have morning glories growing I no a a pot on top for my trellis fence. Will the shoots get heavy and fall over so it grows down the fence?? Or do I need to to help them?

  8. Kathleen McCole says:

    I live in zone3-4 in WI. I have tried to grow hollyhocks. I have bought plants at least three times. They bloom beautifully but do not come up again. I believe they are bi-annuals but I never see them again! What am I doing wrong or what can I do to keep them growing? My parents always had hollyhocks in a zone three climate. We have had a problem with Japanese Beetles this last year which has added frustration. Would I be better off purchasing seeds?

  9. Thank you. I love to garden and share with like minded. I have scarlet runner bean seeds in my stash and was hoping to give them a try this summer. I also did a white garden a couple years ago and Moonvine was part of that. I need to do that again, I loved it at night.

  10. Love morning glories…the blue one are gorgeous. ..I have scarlet bean runners growing around my front porch in the summer.they self seed and have flowers that look like little sweet pea. I also did moonvine….just love the huge sweet blooms on them. Love your post and info you give thanks

  11. Mine attach but my fence has holes and areas they can wrap around so if yours is solid you will need to add something for them to grab onto and twine around.

  12. If I plant morning glories next to a wooden fence will they automatically attach or to I need to need to put up some form of trellis?

  13. I have not had any trouble yet with rabbits but I did see some tracks in the snow the other day so they have finally found me and I may face issues this coming Spring. Unless the coyotes that live in the woods across from our house take care of the little hoppers soon.
    I would start with building an obelisk for the morning glories to climb then I would cover the lower 3 feet of it with a wire mesh fencing material. As long as the Morning Glories are inside the Obelisk base then the rabbits can’t get to the initial growth. Once is gets to climbing up the obelisk it should do just fine. The rabbits may eat some of the leaves etc that come out thru the mesh but it won’t kill the plant and you will have plenty to enjoy.
    If you have not seen it here is a link to how we built some obelisks for $20 or so and it is completely adjustable as to size. http://www.flowerpatchfarmhouse.com/easy-garden-obelisk/

  14. I just love morning glories, I so wish I had a place for them to grow up. I know the vine would attach to our log home and I’m afraid it would do damage. Any ideas??? I don’t have a trellis or anything similar.

  15. We have such a rabbit problem that many times my MOrning Glories don’t get over a couple inches high. Do you have any suggestions?

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