How to Grow Morning Glories on a Trellis

Few things can make a house feel more like a home than a beautiful garden. When designing your garden, consider the overall impact you want to make. It does not have to take up your entire lawn. Even a small enclosed garden in one corner can add character and a peaceful setting to your home. If you have the option of creating a designated entrance with a metal trellis or archway, you can easily cover it with beautiful vines and flowers by following these few simple steps.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Trellis or metal garden arch
• Morning glory seeds
• Paring knife
• Glass of water
• Local soil and potting soil
• Potting containers
• Watering can

1. Prepare the seeds. Take a small paring knife and carefully make a nick in each seed. This allows the seed to sprout easier and gives you faster results.

2. Soak the seeds. Once they all have a small nick in the surface shell, drop the seeds into a small glass with a couple inches of water. You won't need to do anything else with them for 36 to 48 hours. Just let them sit in the water.

3. Check your seeds. They should be softened up and beginning to sprout. If you see tiny white stems poking out, they're ready to plant. If not, let them soak another 12 hours and check again.

4. Plant the seeds. Keep in mind that morning glories spread to anything they can reach. Because of this, you may want to put the seeds in rectangular pots at the base of your trellis or archway, to cut down on spreading. Make sure you have a good mixture of local soil and potting soil. This provides the seedlings and growing plants with nutrients to aid in their growth. Place each seed, sprout side up, in a small hole approximately 1 1/2 inches below the surface of the soil. Gently cover the seeds and water to let everything settle.

5. Keep the soil moist. If you receive a lot of rain, you may not need to water them for days at a time. Check the soil every day if possible and make sure it is moist but not soggy. If it feels dry, give it some water, but if it begins to feel soggy from too much rain or over watering, your seedlings may not grow as well.

6. Watch them sprout. In just a week or two, if conditions are right, you will see the small green sprouts popping up through the soil. Keep checking the soil and make sure it stays moist. Aside from watering on occasion, you do not need to do anything else with them. As the vines grow, they will naturally find the trellis or archway and wrap themselves around it, climbing all the way to the top and over. The flowers, which come in varying shades of white, purple, and pink, bloom in early morning and wither when the temperature rises. Don't worry, more will bloom the next day. In cooler weather, like spring and early fall, the blooms last longer and longer.

Tips & Warnings

• If you know you're likely to get a lot of rain in the coming weeks, consider adding vermiculite to the soil mixture to ensure good drainage.

• Do not let children do the first step of this, as using a paring knife on the small seeds can be dangerous.