The foliage of ornamental sweet potato vines is the reason they are grown.
Sweet potato bine.
Care of sweet potato plants.
Some of the older varieties may even grace your garden with a few sporadic lavender blooms that look like a slightly more tubular morning glory and for good.
This heat loving perennial will die back if the plant experiences hard freezes below 32 degrees fahrenheit 0 c.
Typically used as spillers in containers they also make fantastic groundcovers typically spreading 4 to 6 feet.
Yet the tubers and even the plant in some cases are easy to save for another.
Give them well draining soil whether they are grown in pots or in the ground.
Sweet potato vine grows practically anywhere from full sun to full shade.
It does best in full sun and warm weather temperatures should remain above 55ºf before planting outside.
Sweet potato vine does well in containers where it is a common spiller plant.
Gardeners turn to the sweet potato vine for its ability to power through just about anything while bringing interesting shapes sizes and colors to a pot or plot.
A vigorous annual or a tender perennial it takes off in summer heat.
Sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas named for its edible cousin is an ornamental warm season annual grown for its attractive leaves and vining habit the foliage lends a tropical feel to the garden and comes in a range of colors and varying forms.
Sweet potato vines the best spillers ever.
They also thrive in heat.
Ipomoea butatas or sweet potato vine thrives in hot tropical climates and is an ornamental foliage plant often used as a foil for flowering displays.
Sweet potato vines enjoy a bright sunny location outdoors with similar conditions in the home.
Anyone who s gardened in containers for long knows the magic formula for an effective container you need a thriller upright showy plant fillers mounding plants on the sides and spillers trailing plants that cascade over the sides.
The ornamental varieties are simply cultivars of the species plant.
In hot summer climates such as southern florida it can struggle in full sun during the hottest months especially if the soil dries out.
Varieties of this type of sweet potato may bear black chartreuse or multicolored leaves.
In containers make sure there are adequate drainage holes.
One of the easiest ways to create multi seasonal interest in the garden is to use plants with interesting foliage.
Where to plant sweet potato vine.
If the ground stays too wet for too long sweet potato vine may rot and die.
They are bred for the beauty of their leaves rather than edible tubers and the vines from these plants make them look more like a morning glory or clematis than a member of the potato family.
Ornamental sweet potato vines are in the same family as edible sweet potatoes and are in fact the same species.
Sweet potato plants can provide a beautiful low ground cover in planters that will trail out over the edge.
