SIMPLY LIVING
When I visit my daughter in Winter Garden, I often take back roads instead of the highway. I find back roads more interesting with their twists and turns, pretty views and occasional surprises. Sometimes I see unexpected wildlife, but more often, I spot an unfamiliar wildflower growing along stretches of yet-to-be developed land.
When I visit my daughter in Winter Garden, I often take back roads instead of the highway. I find back roads more interesting with their twists and turns, pretty views and occasional surprises. Sometimes I see unexpected wildlife, but more often, I spot an unfamiliar wildflower growing along stretches of yet-to-be developed land.
Last week
on the drive to Amber's house, I noticed an reddish-orange-flowered vine
scrambling over the underbrush along a yet-to-be developed stretch of roadside.
Long after I returned home, the pretty vine
kept twining through my mind. I wondered
what it was and if it was a native plant or an invasive exotic. Over the years, I’ve learned to be careful
with vines. All too often I've made the
mistake of introducing attractive climbers to our landscape only to find out
after they became established how difficult they are to control.
One of my (many) mistakes was adding wild blue morning glory vine to the landscape |
Although
I didn’t pull over last week to take clippings of the unfamiliar bloom, my
resolve weakened a few days later when I found myself along the same stretch of
two-lane road.
It only
took a couple minutes to pull onto the shoulder, hop out of the car - clippers
in hand – and snip off a few lengths of the sprawling vine. While there, I snapped a few pictures as
well. My plan was to look up and
identify the vine when I returned home then post pictures online before
planting. If I received enough positive
feedback – reassurance that it wasn’t a known problem plant and wouldn’t spread
like crazy – maybe I’d add it to our landscape.
The plant turned out to be Ipomoea cocchinea (CQ), native to the eastern United States. It has many common names including red or scarlet morning glory, scarlet creeper and redstar, a moniker referring to the star-shaped, pale orange throat of the flower’s small tubular blooms.
Scarlet morning glory climbing across shrubs |
To help me with my decision, I
posted a picture of the plant to a Facebook group called Florida Botany asking
if anyone had personal experience with the plant. Before long, several members responded.
“I love
these,” wrote a member based in the Florida panhandle. “When we had them, they died back good in
winter, allowing me to control their growth.”
Sharing
her enthusiasm was a member based in the state’s central east coast. “I had a volunteer show up in my mom and
dad’s yard sometime ago and have not found it to be invasive at all. In fact, I wish it would show up more, as I
love it!”
Three
hours later, the first negative comment arrived. “My experience with I. Cocchinea is a little
different,” wrote a Stetson University biology professor. “I love them but have had them completely
overgrow small trees. One vine almost
completely covered a dahoon holly. Now
that they are established, I get tons of seedlings every year.”
While the
first two posts offered encouragement, the professor’s comment gave me pause. His description of the vine’s aggressiveness mirrored
my previous experiences with several other “found” species that I unwittingly
introduced to the landscape.
Reading
over these and other comments as well as doing more online research provided
much to ponder.
On the
plus side, the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council does not consider Ipomoea
cocchinea invasive. And wildlife like
it. The vine’s small but bright colored
flowers attract any number of butterflies, bees and hummingbirds. Who wouldn’t want to add a natural
hummingbird magnet to their yard?
On the
negative side, it sounds like Ipomoea cocchinea will self-seed prolifically,
popping up in unwanted spots like my husband’s vegetable garden. Not a good thing. Also, as my past experience with blue morning
glory (Ipomoea indica) proved, once established it will be nearly impossible to eliminate.
While I
stood by my computer weighing the pros and cons, a new comment popped up on
Facebook.
“I’ve
found them to be pretty aggressive,” wrote a Florida Botany member from Crawfordville. “I sure wouldn’t put them in my garden but
might allow them out by the roadside.”
His
comment offered the kind of compromise that made sense to me. Red morning glory vine, I think you found a
new home.
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