Sweet Potato Vine

Sweet potato vine is known for it s trailing growth making it excellent for containers and hanging baskets.

Sweet potato vine.

They also thrive in heat. Ipomoea batatas blackie blacky ipomoea batatas blackie blacky source. Gardeners turn to the sweet potato vine for its ability to power through just about anything while bringing interesting shapes sizes and colors to a pot or plot. They are bred for the beauty of their leaves rather than edible tubers and the vines from these plants make them look more like a morning glory or clematis than a member of the potato family.

A vigorous annual or a tender perennial it takes off in summer heat. The plant grows best in moist well drained soil. Sweet potato vines enjoy a bright sunny location outdoors with similar conditions in the home. In containers make sure there are adequate drainage holes.

In hot summer climates such as southern florida it can struggle in full sun during the hottest months especially if the soil dries out. Some of the most popular ornamental vine types are documented here but there are many more and new varieties are being developed regularly. One of the easiest ways to create multi seasonal interest in the garden is to use plants with interesting foliage. Anyone who s gardened in containers for long knows the magic formula for an effective container you need a thriller upright showy plant fillers mounding plants on the sides and spillers trailing plants that cascade over the sides.

Types of sweet potato vine. Typically used as spillers in containers they also make fantastic groundcovers typically spreading 4 to 6 feet. It s lovely texture blends well in gardens and can be used as groundcover for all over coverage. Sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas named for its edible cousin is an ornamental warm season annual grown for its attractive leaves and vining habit the foliage lends a tropical feel to the garden and comes in a range of colors and varying forms.

Sweet potato vines are available in many countries around the world. Care of sweet potato plants. If the ground stays too wet for too long sweet potato vine may rot and die. Some of the older varieties may even grace your garden with a few sporadic lavender blooms that look like a slightly more tubular morning glory and for good.

Sweet potato vine does well in containers where it is a common spiller plant. Ornamental sweet potato vines are in the same family as edible sweet potatoes and are in fact the same species. Sweet potato vines the best spillers ever. The ornamental varieties are simply cultivars of the species plant.