The ornamental varieties are simply cultivars of the species plant.
Sweet potato vine blackie care.
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.
Caregrow in moderately fertile well drained soil in full sun.
The sweet potato plant or sweet potato vine has been cultivated for around 2 000 years for its sweet tasting tubers.
Blackie is an impressive variety that.
Otherwise there are several easy ways of overwintering a sweet potato vine.
Ornamental sweet potato vines are in the same family as edible sweet potatoes and are in fact the same species.
Sweet potato vine winter care.
Though prolific growers you may fertilize monthly if desired using a general all purpose water soluble fertilizer.
Blackie is usually grown as an annual.
Provide support or use as a groundcover.
Root softwood cuttings in.
If you have space you can simply bring the plants indoors and grow them as houseplants until spring.
While tolerant of drought these plants prefer to be kept moist not soggy.
I discovered the blackie sweet potato vine about a year ago when i purchased several simply because they were so lovely to decorate my patio when we held a large pool party for my husband s family.
Shelter from cold drying winds.
Propagationsow seed in spring after chipping them or soaking them in water for 24 hours.
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.
Popular varieties like marguerite have small round tubers while varieties like blackie have longer narrower tubers.
Some of the most popular ornamental vine types are documented here but there are many more and new varieties are being developed regularly.
Ipomoea batatas blackie blacky ipomoea batatas blackie blacky source.
Ipomoea batatas blackie.
Overwintering sweet potato tubers.
Bulb like tubers grow just beneath the surface of the soil.
The care of sweet potato plants is similar to most other vining houseplants in the home spending summers outdoors.
My sister in law has two green thumbs and her yard patio are always beautiful.
Often grown in container gardens for its trailing stems of purple chartreuse or variegated foliage ornamental sweet potato vine is actually related to the sweet potatoes you d grow in your vegetable garden.
Sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas blackie is a fast growing tropical vine that gracefully spills over the edges of patio containers or hanging baskets.
Sweet potato vines are available in many countries around the world.
One of the easiest ways to create multi seasonal interest in the garden is to use plants with interesting foliage.
That means the tubers it forms are actually edible.