The Aggressive Morning Glory

Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. I’ve heard stories of a farming family that almost separated as a new wife, raised in the city, put up wallpaper covered with morning glories. Ipomoea purpurea commonly known as Heavenly blue morning glory, is native to the Central Valley of Mexico and is considered an aggressive weed in agricultural crops like cotton and corn. As I drive on 601 from St. Matthews to Sumter, parts of the roadsides are covered with these vines and their colorful flowers. Although they’re noxious weeds to farmers, to the migrating Cloudless Sulfur butterflies, they are delightful feeding spots, and hundreds of those insects are fluttering and sipping nectar from the blossoms. It almost makes me want to have a picture to remember the beauty of that scene, but since I have farmer friends, I’ll keep that memory in my mind and off my walls.