Morning glories are brief but beautiful
A Mexican plant with flowers the colour of the Mediterranean sky – if you’re looking for something to bring brightness to your garden this summer, look no further than Morning Glory ‘Heavenly Blue’.
They remind me of Spanish holidays where you see their cerulean blue trumpets scrambling over walls and twining up telegraph poles – always looking much more attractive and acceptable than our smaller native bindweed!
A popular annual here in the UK, morning glory is in fact a short-lived perennial in its native land, and is renowned for its short-lived flowers that open with the morning sun but rarely last long enough to see the day out.
But they pack a beautiful punch for all their brevity, the long, culled buds unfurling into large, splendidly-coloured trumpets.
I like to sow them around an obelisk set in a sunny flowerbed, so they can scramble up and turn their faces to the sky.
Morning glory is also a useful space filler when it comes to filling gaps against a trellis or wall where you may have planted a slower-growing perennial climber that has yet to really find its feet.
Sow the seeds thinly onto a tray of good quality peat-free seed compost that has been sieved to remove lumps and dampened with tap water.
It will help if you tamp the compost flat before sowing to give the seeds a stable seedbed. When your seedlings are large enough, pot them on individually into small pots and grow them until they are large enough to be hardened off and added to the garden.
Sow these robust beauties
Satin flowers will shine all summer
- Godetia (also known as Clarkia) may look like delicate ballerinas but their stunning, ruffled looks and rosy petals belie a sturdy frame.
- They are hardy annuals, well able to deal with British weather, so now is the time to sow where you want to grow, in a sunny patch of soil that is rich and free-draining.
- The variety ‘Thoroughly Modern Millie’ has multitudes of pink and salmon-toned petals that look remarkably like azalea flowers. The texture of their petals has given these plants, which are Canadian natives, their common name ‘satin flower’.
- Scatter the seeds thinly where you want them to grow after preparing the soil by clearing it of weeds and stones and raking it until it is fine and crumbly.
- Water the soil then sow the seeds and cover them with a thin layer of soil, before gently firming it down and labelling the spot to avoid disturbing germination later on.
- You may need to thin the seedlings if they appear overcrowded, and you can also sow them with annuals such as cornflowers, California poppies and nigella for a pretty display.
- Deadhead regularly for prolonged flowering and keep the soil damp during dry periods.
WHATS ON
21 Mar: The Generous Gardener’s Specialist Plant Fair, Charlton Farm, Pink Lane. Malmesbury, Wiltshire, SN16 9DS. 10am-2pm.
21 Mar: Specialist Plant Fair, The Coach House Garden, Ampney Crucis, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 5RY. 10am-2pm.
21-22 Mar: Duchy of Cornwall Nursery Orchid Celebration, Duchy of Cornwall Nursery, Cott Road, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0HW. 9am-4.30pm.
22-23 Mar: Thriplow Daffodil Weekend, Thriplow in Royston, Cambridgeshire, SG8. 11am-5pm.
22 Mar: Alpine Garden Society South West Show, RHS Garden Rosemoor: Rosemoor, Great Torrington, Devon EX38 8PH.
22-23 Mar: Burnham Nurseries & Orchid Paradise Open Weekend, Burnham Nurseries, Forches Cross, Newton Abbot, Devon, England, TQ12 6PZ.
22 Mar: Sedgemoor Seed Swap, Purplespoon Cafe, Church Street, Highbridge, Somerset, TA9 3AG.
22 Mar: Plant Fair, Digby Hall, Hound Street, Sherborne, Dorset, DT9 3AA. 10am-2pm.
22-23 Mar: Bonsai Show, RHS Garden Wisley, Wisley Lane, Wisley, Woking, Surrey GU23 6QB.
23 Mar: Plant Hunters Fair, Arley Hall & Gardens, Northwich, Cheshire, CW9 6NA. 10am-4pm.
23 Mar: Plant Fairs Roadshow Early Spring Plant Fair, Hever Castle, Hever, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 7NG. 10.30am-3.30pm.
23 Mar: Islington Seed Swap, Olden Community Garden, 22 Whistler Street, London, N5 1NH.
26 Mar: Conwy Seed Fair, High Street, Conwy, North Wales, LL32 8DB. 9am-4pm.
29 Mar: Rare Plant Fair, Evenley Wood Garden, Northamptonshire, NN13 5SH. 10am-4pm.
29 Mar: Plant Hunters’ Fair, Bodenham Arboretum, Wolverley, Kidderminster, Worcestershire, DY11 5TB. 10am-4pm.
29 Mar: Hayling Horticultural Society Seed Swap, Hayling United Reformed Church, Hollow Lane, Hayling Island, Hampshire, PO11 9EY. 10am-noon.
29 Mar: Spring Seed Swap, Plant Sale, & Fun Day, Merstham Hub, 2b Portland Drive, Merstham, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 3JB.
30 Mar: Plant Hunters’ Fair, Sugnall Walled Garden, Sugnall, Stafford, Staffordshire, ST21 6NF. 10am-4pm.
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