Towards the end of winter, my soul is crying out for color. I mean the color that Mother Nature pours out onto the Earth in glorious flowers of every size, shape, and hue.
A beautiful pink morning glory, planted from seed in a hanging pot attached to the privacy fence in my backyard.
This year, however, found us in the midst of a pandemic that kept me from reveling in the exploration of garden centers and greenhouses. I usually start frequenting these places around mid-April, planning, choosing colors, looking for unusual offerings. This year, I had to settle for ordering seed packets with my click-list grocery order and taking a chance with ordering live plants online ( more about the live plants in a later post ) The morning glory seeds were the only ones I ordered that thrived, so I planted more...everywhere. Boy was I surprised and thrilled with the results!
Every morning, even with just a few plants, some new exquisite beauty greets me. The vines grow in ridiculously creative ways and will attach to anything they can reach. The delicate petals of the flower take on a different look with the changing light and weather. Rain and dew bejewel them with sparkles and the shadows cast by the tangled vines create playful shadows across their transparent blossoms.
I can see the first morning blooms from my kitchen window as I make my morning coffee, and can hardly wait to drink my first cup as I inspect the new blossoms.
Morning glories' impressive flowers attract pollinators:
Bees, hummingbirds, and other pollinators are drawn to these trumpet-shaped flowers, so you will be supporting the local ecosystem by growing morning glories
Bees, wasps, butterflies, and hummingbirds love these flowers.
"The beauty of morning glory is that of its patient wait for the sun to rise in the morning"
Just a few of the hundreds of photos I took of my morning glories this summer. I will use these photos as references for paintings.
One of my very favorite poets, Mary Oliver, personifies morning glories in her poem about these lovely flowers and their penchant to crop up in cornfields.
Grow on a trellis outside a window for beauty and privacy
I decided to plant some seeds next to a trellis that I built and placed in front of my office window and am thrilled to be able to sit at my desk and enjoy the beautiful green foliage and purple flowers that are now my view.
Morning Glory for hummingbirds is one of the best hummingbird flowers. ... These flowers, also called Ipomoea, are tubular in shape, just perfect for hummingbirds to easily access the nectar. This vine couldn't be easier to grow.
I have one of this variety in a large container on my patio.
The morning glory flower blooms and dies within a single day. In the Victorian meaning of flowers, morning glory flowers signify love, affection, or mortality. In Chinese folklore, they represent a single day for lovers to meet. They also represent the month of September and 11th wedding anniversaries.
This is the same blossom on the same day, in the morning's sun, and closing, curling in upon itself as the evening approaches.
Late-blooming morning glories can be particularly valuable to hummingbirds in late summer and fall when the birds are preparing to migrate or are already en route to their wintering grounds. Often these long-distance migrants have a difficult time finding enough food to successfully make this difficult flight.
Morning glories can be either a friend or foe. Farmers don't love them in their fields as they can reseed themselves and spread where they are not wanted, coming back year after year, wrapping themselves around crops. As for my backyard, however, I am ok with the inconvenience of having to occasionally deal with morning glories trying to wrap themselves around any and everything.
This is a small price to pay for the beauty they add to my backyard landscape and the food they provide to the nectar-feeding wildlife that lives just outside my backdoor
Stop for a few minutes, take in your surroundings, enjoy the simple things!
Although I opted for the classic blue/purple and pink morning glories this year, there is a dazzling array of colors to choose from if you decide to invite this gorgeous flower into your backyard, patio, or garden.
So, there you are, my happy and unexpected reuniting with this glorious flower from my childhood. I hope you decide to give them a try. You won't be sorry!
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