Morning Glories: Becky's garden - Summer 2010, 1 by beckygardener

beckygardener wrote:
Thanks to all of you for the very nice compliments of my bloom photos.

Some of you reading this may think that I am rambling on and on about myself, but in fact the main purpose for creating this thread was to share information with you about what I have learned over the past 4 years growing MGs. I was a newbie not that long ago, as some of you may recall ...

I do not mean to tease anyone with the MG bloom photos posted above. Many of those are stingy seed producers and I will not have enough seeds for trading. Some came directly from Japan and are very new ... and to my knowledge haven't been released by the Japanese commercial seed companies yet. (Maybe I am wrong, but I've not seen any of them advertised for sale.) The seeds were shared with me by several very kind and generous MG seed traders. I believe the reason they are rare is because of the fact that they don't produce many seeds. Some have very unusual qualities which would make them highly desirable. Others are nice, but do not knock my socks off ... I think a "desirable" MG is a preference. A personal preference.

In my years here on this forum, I have seen folks go to great lengths trying to obtain the newest and rarest MGs. Some cultivars may have been worth the effort, but others made me wonder what the big deal was all about! lol Maybe a bit of an obsession? These vines CAN be a bit addicting... lol

I found myself getting wrapped up in the frenzy ... and it was a let down. I have obtained and grown out some very unusual vines, only to be disappointed personally. The Japanese have created some really unusual cultivars in recent years. Some of the flower shapes look shredded. In photos they are beautiful, but as I have discovered ... much smaller than I personally prefer. Some were actually insignificant in comparison to the foliage and vine itself. It's always amazing to me how a photograph can indeed be very deceiving to the viewer.

I have learned to discern for myself what these vines and blooms really look like in real life. I know what I personally like and those unusual cultivars do not really appeal to me at this time. And I don't mean to discount those lovely cultivars as I am sure they are VERY unique and beautiful indeed. Like I said, it is a personal preference.

I have looked at many commercial seed/plant catalogs and they know how to advertise to get buyers! It is so easy to get excited about their newly introduced plants. But when I grew some of those out, they were not what I thought they would be. LOL! Maybe I am evolving personally as a gardener. I like to think so. I have come to the realization that I can only grow so many plants in a season with my limited yard space. So I've become more discriminating about WHAT I want to grow. I now decide what it is that I REALLY want in a plant and that is what I focus my attention on, not the latest and greatest new cultivars.

How do I chose? I personally decide what I want by size, color, habit, and how well it will grow in my zone. And it is still a trial and error for me. But it is also a process of elimination in narrowing down what I need to be looking at when deciding what to grow each year.

There are endless choices of MGs! Here is a collage of some of my own personal favorites from last year's grow-outs! Many of these I shared seeds of in the seed swap. But be warned ... if they were a cross, not a hybrid or true cultivar ... they may not come true to my photographs!