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Thomas Mickey: Three easy annual vines

22.05.13

Sometimes in the summer, you want colorful flowers climbing a trellis or the side of a porch. Annual vines may be just the answer.

Since they are usually from warmer climates, vines grow quickly throughout our summer and bloom the entire season.

Here are three annual vines that are easy to grow and available in most garden centers. Even big-box stores might carry them –– if not as plants, surely in a seed packet.

Morning glory

For a long time, I thought the morning glory was a nuisance. Not anymore. These twining vines with funnel-shaped flowers that close late in the day add a feast of white, rose and blue color to any garden.

While on a Saturday-morning round of yard sales one fall, I saw morning glories covering a garage wall and a porch railing at a seller’s home. The owner identified the beautiful blue flower as President Tyler (Ipomoea purpurea). She even offered me some seeds.

Tyler, according to Johnny’s Seeds in Maine, is an heirloom seed. It blooms with its 2- to 3-inch flowers weeks earlier than other varieties with similar blooms. That makes it ideal for climates with a shorter season. Plant it in full sun and average soil. It can climb 7 to 8 feet.

Source: Canton Repository