Great Morning Glories!
Thank goodness it has finally rained! 4″ as of Saturday noon. The bad news is all the rain and wind blew the gorgeous crowning jewel of our garden over. The Morning Glory and Moon Flower vine trellis went a little over, so I was out in the rain this morning driving steel pipes in the ground to help stand it back up. I am happy to report it was a success. (All would have been avoided if I had properly staked them earlier in the season…)

October and November are when these vines really come into their glory. They bloom the most as the days begin to shorten and remember they prefer lean soil- no fertilizer! These pictured above have had no irrigation this summer other then the first 2 weeks after planting the plants, so I would call them drought tolerant. They are quite hardy and breathtakingly beautiful in the morning. We started these from seed indoors from our line of seeds, Heavenly Blue Morning Glories. Seeds are much easier to start after soaking in water over night.

Checkout our photo album for our fall flowering vines–

This photo is of our “Garden Clubhouse” seed collection in the fall stage of growth, however because of the severe drought, the Mammoth Sunflowers did not grow to full size. In a good year, when all things go right, the sunflowers are planted around the outer edge of a 10′ x 10′ square, Morning Glories and Moon Flower vines are alternatively planted next to each sunflower, all watered and staked properly, the Morning Glories and Moon Flowers grow up the Sunflower stalks and once the Sunflower reach about 5-6′ we string twine across the 10′ x10′ square from sunflower heads on one side across to the other creating a roof for the vines to travel across. When planting we leave out one sunflower as a door way to get inside our “Garden Clubhouse” to sit or lay and garden gaze. With walls of sunflowers and a roof of flowering vines you won’t want to leave the garden.

This fun “Garden Clubhouse” is intended for children and their grown-ups but the birds really love it! From early summer they use the humongous sunflower leaves as umbrellas, to later in the summer snacking on the sunflower heads as a meal and the vines make fabulous perches and cover for them all season long.

If you have a sun spot – grow a Clubhouse next year!

Garden because it is good for you and your family!

Lisa Z