The foliage lends a tropical feel to the garden and comes in a range of colors and varying forms.
Sweet potato vine care.
Bulb like tubers grow just beneath the surface of the soil.
As a tropical plant it prefers warmer temperatures.
Typically used as spillers in containers they also make fantastic groundcovers typically spreading 4 to 6 feet.
The sweet potato plant or sweet potato vine has been cultivated for around 2 000 years for its sweet tasting tubers.
While tolerant of drought these plants prefer to be kept moist not soggy.
Though prolific growers you may fertilize monthly if desired using a general all purpose water soluble fertilizer.
Otherwise there are several easy ways of overwintering a sweet potato vine.
The ornamental varieties are simply cultivars of the species plant.
In this article we will share some smart tips and information to help you grow these lively colorful plants successfully in any setting.
It is said that columbus brought the plant to europe from the new world on his expedition missouri botanical garden though the variety of sweet potato plant that produces the edible tubers can be planted for its trailing vines more recently different variations have been.
However depending on your growing zone it can be planted at other times of year.
Overwintering sweet potato tubers.
If you have space you can simply bring the plants indoors and grow them as houseplants until spring.
The one season in which it s generally not advisable to plant sweet potato vines is the winter.
A vigorous annual or a tender perennial it takes off in summer heat.
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.
Ornamental sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas makes an excellent addition to any garden they do well in traditional flowerbeds in landscaping and are wonderful container plants.
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.
When to plant sweet potato vine.
Sweet potato vine does well in containers where it is a common spiller plant.
Ornamental sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas is valued for its colorful foliage and rapid easy care growth habits.
Sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas named for its edible cousin is an ornamental warm season annual grown for its attractive leaves and vining habit.
Although the plant works well as a ground cover it is especially effective.
Most of the time the sweet potato plant is planted in the spring.
Ornamental sweet potato vines are in the same family as edible sweet potatoes and are in fact the same species.
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.
The care of sweet potato plants is similar to most other vining houseplants in the home spending summers outdoors.
