Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine Care

Popular varieties like marguerite have small round tubers while varieties like blackie have longer narrower tubers.

Ornamental sweet potato vine care.

While you may be able to coax your plant into producing sweet potato vine seeds they aren t guaranteed to be good so it s best to propagate in other ways. 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. The sweet potato plant or sweet potato vine has been cultivated for around 2 000 years for its sweet tasting tubers. Many ornamentals are also sterile and only really viable to produce from cuttings.

Ornamental sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas is valued for its colorful foliage and rapid easy care growth habits. Ornamental sweet potato vines don t produce many flowers which means they often don t produce seeds. Ornamental sweet potato vines may start small but some varieties will have you swimming in lush leaves by mid summer. In this article we will share some smart tips and information to help you grow these lively colorful plants successfully in any setting.

That means the tubers it forms are actually edible. This heat loving perennial will die back if the plant experiences hard freezes below 32 degrees fahrenheit 0 c. The foliage lends a tropical feel to the garden and comes in a range of colors and varying forms. 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.

Ornamental sweet potato winter care 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 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. 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.

While it does produce edible sweet potato tubers albeit not very palatable and bitter the ornamental variety bears more colorful foliage making it a popular houseplant.