Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine
Ipomoea batatas
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to liven up the summer greens
Common name: Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine
Latin Name: Ipomoea batatas
Design Tip: Exotic colored foliage creates stunning combination plantings in beds or patio pots. Combine with other brightly tinted foliaged plants such as Coleus or 'Purple Heart' Setcreasea, or use as an annual ground vine among perennials to break an all-green monotony. The long vines will not cling to structures, but can be threaded through trellising.
Form: A perennial in its native tropics, it is used as a heat-tolerant summer annual with trailing vine-like growth. In mild winter climes, the yam-like root may survive to produce foliage the following summer.
Size: The vine grows rapidly in summer, maturing at 8-12 inches high and spreading 10 to 15 feet if not trimmed.
Foliage: The three varieties of Ipomea batatas include lime green or chartreuse colored 'Margarita', a near-black burgundy one registered as 'Blackie' and the less vigorous cultivar 'Tricolor' (or 'Pink Frost'), which has soft bluish green and white leaves splashed with pink. Tricolor may return as solid green the following year.
Light Exposure: Full sun to some shade. 'Blackie' loses its deep color in shade, while 'Margarita' and 'Tricolor' tolerate less sun. Too much shade will cause a more open growth habit. Temperature does not affect leaf color.
Soil: Keep soil moist and well-drained during the growing season.
Grooming: None required, but overly long stems can be easily snipped or snapped off to retain an appropriate size for the location.
Propagation: Cuttings can be taken from established plants at any time and will root in warm, moist soil or water within a few days. The tubers can be dug before first frost and grown indoors in a bottle of water on the dining room table without dirt, just like in elementary school – but with prettier foliage.
Hardiness: Plants will produce tubers towards the end of the growing season, in response to shorter days. Foliage may return from tuberous roots in areas with warm winters if soil stays on the dry side during the dormant season. Or the roots may be dug after the first light frost and over-wintered for spring planting. Store the tubers in a cool, dry place, and wrap them in newspaper to keep them from sprouting until planting outside in late spring.
Snippets: Growers are experimenting with new cultivars for future introduction. The fleshy roots of these ornamental sweet potatoes are edible, but lack a pleasant taste. Insignificant lavender blooms are seldom produced in the Metroplex climate. The tiny black flea beetle may chew numerous small round holes in leaves. Non-chemical preventive remedies include introducing beneficial nematodes or parasitic wasps and cleaning out garden debris over winter.
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Cultivated, photographed and written by
Maggie Ross McNeely in Fort Worth, Texas
All rights reserved