L@@K What I Found . . .

Congratulations Emma! I know what a great feeling it is to FINALLY get a plant you've admired and wanted for so long.

The "Old Man of the Earth" grows along the road I live on and in and around my yard. We are pretty dry here in the summer so they have never been particularly eye-catching due to the few blooms they have produced.

This year, I have put an arch for one to climb on and have been seeing to it that it is watered regularly, hoping to see what one will do given proper care.

I should be seeing the first blooms open in a few days and there are many coming! It should be a great show.

Here is a picture of the vine on the arch (some sort of builder's material: a narrow ladder-like strip of soldered wire). Sorry the shot isn't clearer.

Here is a closer look at the buds.

And Ron~

The I. Panduratas nearby have very tiny hairs all over both sides of the leaves and petioles. The leaves actually have a sort of sand-papery feel to them: not pleasantly soft like those of, say, "Velvet Leaf" or Marshmallow. Just rough.

Didn't notice if the sepals were hairy, but I'll check tomorrow. Don't have a better camera or macro (borrow this one from my brother) but I'll see if I can capture some detail for you.

Robert.

Robert -

Thanks for sharing.
Isn't this exciting.
Will look forward to your beautiful blooms.

Do you know if the vines in your area produce seeds?

Thanks Robert,
Emma

They do produce seeds as I find young plants here and there. I missed getting any from the vines in the yard and as I said, they were definitely on their on in a DRY season last year.

There seem to be a lot of small bees that visit them and I'll be heppin' out if they lag behind!

The first bloom opened today. Went out early and there it was.

Mmmmm......

I meant to rotate the last pic 45 degrees clockwise.......

Ron~ Here is a closer look at the buds.

The vine is LOADED! Yippeee!

The very young foliage does have a nice soft silky feel, but the mature foliage is rough. When you rub it, you can really hear it.

The bud petioles are more bristly than hairy, to the touch, anywho.

Robert.

Robert - Excellent shot of the sepals(!)...I wonder if you can zoom in any closer to show the differences of the ridges on the 3 different types of sepals

1)the 2 outer sepals - both outer side edges exposed - looks like 3 ridges with 2 grooves
2) the 2 inner sepals - both outer side edges overlapped - only 1 ridge(?)...any grooves(?)...
3)the 5th sepal with one edge overlapped and one outer edge exposed - similar to 2 outer sepals as shown on the left bud above

TTY,...

Ron

Ron~

I'm using my brother's old Mavica and and it doesn't seem to capture details clearly, but I'll see what I can do.

Don't want to hijack this thread or anything, so should I post them here if I get any good shots or what?

What say you EmmaGrace?

Robert.

Hey Robert,
Sure - Go for it!

I'd love to learn more about these beauties. Post what you like here.

Curious how they even get started!
Birds maybe?

I'm seeing more and more of them around where I live - and as many County Roads that we have in the general area, no telling where else they are.

Here is one of the photos....

Emma



This message was edited Aug 20, 2009 11:09 PM

Here is the only other photo that I got.

You will see a different leaf in this one that is not from this vine. It is 'one of those' vines that we have around here.

Oh, and Robert. Now I don't feel so bad. Looks like NC has plenty of bugs too, just like here in Texas. They sure do love these I. pandurata vine leaves. Look at all of the holes. Probably grasshoppers.

Emma

OK, Emma.

Yeah, those holes! I think the ones on my vine are caused by a tiny shiny black beetle that also loves to eat the petals off of purple coneflower before they even show color! They are sneaky too: they drop off the leaf or bloomed when disturbed so they're really hard to remove. Carbaryl gets 'em every time, but there's the bees and so forth to try and save, but I use it on the foliage and on the very small buds long before ther's anything to attract a butterfly or bee.

Great luck you're having with all the pandurata!

I dug up a small root the other day too. Pencil thick and about 7" long (I broke part of itoff, accidentally). Looks like it's going to be fine.

There used to be a lot more on the sides of the road I live on, but the county has done a lot of clearing recently and roadwork too and the areas are so disturbed and all sorts of "weeds" and things are springing up like mad that I'm not sure how they're doing this year. I'll have to go and check close up. As hardy as they are, I'm sure they'll come back and fight their way through any kind of mess to find the sun.

Robert.

Robert,
Yes, looks like you baby will make it.

I don't know if these around here produce seeds or not yet. I'll have to keep checking on them until I know.

Looking forward to your other photos.

Emma

Where I see them it is a drop off ditch and no place to park. I will have to have my husband drop me off and take off if a car comes. It isn't a busy country road at all. Most of the locals prefer traffic, I guess.
I did go for a walk a couple years back on that road with a neighbor and came back with several ticks on my clothing. So, YUK! Look out for those.

I found this MG just this morning growing near my driveway. I couldn't get down the embankment to take pics- too many bees and too much poison oak. The leaves on the plants were COVERED and eaten by Japanese beetles. Also the vines are loaded with very "un-morning-glory-like" seed pods.

OK. The old Mavica came through for me. All it took was putting on my reading glasses and switching to to manual focus. (I'd rather look thru a viewfinder focusing....)

Not sure if this is the same bloom......

Same bloom, AFAIK.

Same one.

Stems.

Leaf surface.

The reverse.

Emma~

Were the vines you found in occaisionally moist conditions? I am amazed at the size of the plants and root, especially. And in all that dry ground.

The ones I see here are on slopes in sandy loam and only get whatever rain falls in our mostly droughty summers. They are alway rather thin vines, never have seen a lush one till those you posted.

They seem to thrive on the dry dusty dirt roads here in southwest GA.. They are so pretty and have had so little rain this year.

larkie

Berrygirl -
What a Beauty, and you didn't even have to go out and hunt one down!
Is there any way you can take photos for us [especially Ron] to see. Interesting that you say:
'the vines are loaded with very "un-morning-glory-like" seed pods'
Because, if yours really is I. pandurata, I would LOVE to have some of your seeds, if you can make it to them. I'm thinking that the plants in my area don't produce seeds, but time will tell, and I'd like very much to get another species started growing with what I have so I too can get seeds.

And/ Or....
Robert, If you think you might be able to get one of your plants out for me, I'm POSITIVE, I will have something to send you in return, or at least pay for the postage.

Robert -
wOw!
Incredible photos. . .So vivid!
Wish my camera would do that.
Now, can't wait to hear what Ron has to say.

Emma


This message was edited Aug 21, 2009 1:18 AM

Robert - The closeups are very clear and I think that out of all the photos that you posted above,that the following should be entered into the PlantFiles


http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2444318
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2453307
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2453320

Do the stems have the same 'bristly' feel as the leaves(?)...

This photo here
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2453342
shows what looks to be a yellowish 'woodrose' looking seedpod developing just under the right flower...Robert,can you confirm that the yellow structure visible in the above photo is a developing seedpod(?)...

berrygirl - if there is a certain day and/or time of day,along with appropriate protective clothing,that you or a very helpful friend can capture a photo of the unusual looking seedpods, that would be very helpful to the people who are very interested in this species...if there is aplenty of the pods,maybe you can quickly snip off a small section of the vine with some seedpods attached to photograph the seedpods indoors...
Do the seedpods on yours look like the yellowish structure visible in the picture posted above by radio(?)

Emma - do all of the vines that you have also have 'bristly' feeling hairs like Roberts(?)

Ipomoea pandurata is reportedly grows best in areas that do not experience prolonged wetness,as this causes the roots to rot and that is what happened to the ones I had planted in my yard...the plants were doing good in 2 gallon containers,but when I planted them directly in the ground here,the roots decayed...as the ground water level here is very high all year round...same thing happened to the Ipomoea leptophylla I had growing here...

Keep the info flowing...

TTY,...

Ron

P.S. - soil that has a high clay content may contribute to the health of the plants as the clay affects the balance of electrically charged/ionized nutrient cation adsorbtion/absorbtion and also affects the way moisture is retained or 'repelled' from around the root environment...



This message was edited Jul 1, 2006 1:00 AM

Hi y'all.
I will try my best to get more pix tomorrow and also some seed pods. It truly is gorgeous in bloom but the foliage has been ravaged by the beetles.

Ron~

The yellow under the rightmost flower http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2453342
is a blossom of a Hypericum (not sure which species.) Sorry.

I'll have to go out to be certain, but as I recall it, the vine stems weren't bristly like the other parts.

My vine only started to bloom June 28. Will post pix as pods develope (crossed fingers).

EmmaGrace~

I'll be in touch. :-)

Robert.

Ron -

This vine that just shot up over the last few weeks from this tuber
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2407002

Looks like Robert's photo here
http://davesgarden.com/forums/fp.php?pid=2453322
Looked at the vine with my OptiVisor
And, Yes, it does feel 'bristly' even though this is a young shoot from a mature tuber.

I am posting a photo, but it is nothing like Robert's -
My camera just doesn't have the resolution, so this is just about as close as I can get with my camera

The leaves are still pretty small, so can't tell much about them yet.

Emma

Ron -
Thanks for the planting information on the I. pandurata.

I just potted up the two small tubers I got this week, so I'd better remove them from that potting soil and go ahead and plant them in the very back of my property where I planted the others. In fact, this soil is very sandy and has not been amended at all, which is probably why the tubers are loving it there that we just planted.

Also, 'moko' in Arkansas was kind enough to send me three of his tubers [that do produce seeds] a couple of months ago, but I'm sorry to say they didn't make it, so I must contribute that to the fact that I also planted the tubers in regular potting soil.

Emma

This bloom is a little worn out from our 100+ degree heat today.. I think these are gonna have seed pods.. I will check back in a few days

Larkie

Larkie -

Thanks for the update....

If you do get seeds, I would love to have some of them if you can.

Emma

Ron~

I checked the stems of the pandurata here and it is a bit "bristly", not so much on the newest growth, but seems to develope as they mature. The stems closest to the ground are quite rough now, though not prickly. The "bristliness" also seems as if it is in a linear form, that is, it isn't evenly placed around the stem but seems to be in lines and those not necessarilly consistant in texture along the length of the stem between the nodes.

Hope that helps.

EmmaGrace~

I guess since we're finding out that I.pandurata is found almost exclusively in dry well-drained soils, that huge root you uncovered must be many-many years old. What an OLD Man of the Earth!

Robert.

Robert -
Very interesting that the tuber that Jerry huffed and puffed to dig up for me is many-many years old.

Can't wait for this 'Old-Man' to bloom.

Emma

The I pandurata I spy are on the sides of the road a bit back from the ditches. They stay open later in the day, but not all afternoon either.

Here's some pix- they're not very good I'm afraid. By the time I got there, the blooms had already closed up.

#2

#3

#4