I brought some cuttings from a friend's white morning glory indoors to root and they are so pretty that I decided to leave them indoors and grow them hydroponically. Initially I was concerned about whether they would cross-pollinate with the gorgeous blue ones that are flowering in abundance next door. Like laundry, I wanted the whites to stay white and the colors to stay bright...and the bees to stay outdoors.
Ah, but these are moonflowers! They get up late, like me, so I can watch them open. It does not take long either, as they can go from being as pictured at the left to being like the one at the right in just one minute.
The leaves are heart-shaped, whereas the leaves on my blue morning glory have triple indentations.
Update on the moonflowers:
I saw a seed packet of the Ipomoea alba at WalMart for 99 cents and decided to see how fast they would sprout. After nicking a few of the seeds on the side with a nail clipper, I soaked them overnight, and put them in the Sproutman's Hemp Sprouting Bag. Two days later they were ready to plant. Yes, in the dirt! This is something new for me as I normally only grow things in water. My rules were these:
1) It has to grow in water, and
2) It has to be edible.
The genus Ipomoea is neither! (except for water spinach, more on which later...)
Blame it on the fig tree. That, and my recent move to Southern California, to a place with a yard. Yes, it is the size of a postage stamp, but big enough to grow a fig...in a pot, as those guys send roots out forever, and probably the gophers would come and gnaw through them.
