About Ipomoea

Size

• This tender, herbaceous perennial grows up to 10 feet long and is used as an ornamental vine in gardening containers, hanging baskets or mixed borders. Many gardeners use an ornamental sweet potato vine as a ground cover since it grows only 6 to 12 inches high but will spread throughout the garden between the other plants.

Features

• Ipomoea batatas is an ornamental sweet potato, and while these plants are usually grown for the attractive foliage, the underground tubers are still edible.
  Sweet potato vines bring several positive features to the garden. The leaf shapes are pleasing hearts, palmate or deeply lobed, which are fine-cut outlines that add interest to the landscape. The foliage color is pretty and available in bright green, deep purple or maroon and several variegated cultivars with pink, cream, green or purple streaks and splashes. The hanging, trailing stems are perfect for use as a ground cover or draping over the edge of a raised planter bed, container or hanging basket.

Types

• Tricolor sweet potato: The heart-shaped leaves of this ipomoea are a very attractive medium-green shade with white and pink streaks throughout.
  Ace of Spades sweet potato: One of the darkest varieties available, the Ace of Spades has dark purple, nearly black, broad foliage.
  Blackie sweet potato: A dark-colored variety like Ace of Spades, Blackie has more deeply cut foliage.
  Margarita sweet potato: This ipomoea cultivar has bright, lime-green foliage and heart-shaped leaves.
  Lady Fingers sweet potato: Another bright green cultivar, Lady Fingers has deeply cut leaves that create a lacy look in the garden.

Considerations

• Ornamental sweet potatoes do well in full sun to full shade, depending on the specific plant and on your garden situation. In areas with a hotter summer sun, consider planting your sweet potato vine in a shadier area.
  Sweet potatoes are hardy to zone 9, so even though they are grown as annuals in many areas, they are actually herbaceous perennials. If you want to keep your plant over the winter, dig up the tuberous roots before first fall frosts and store in a dark, dry area.

Prevention/Solution

• Sweet Potato vines do not have a lot of pest or disease problems, but there are a couple to watch out for.
  Fungal infections can hurt the foliage of the plant if the leaves get too wet during watering or the plants are overcrowded. Prevent foliage fungus by allowing the plant enough room to breathe and watering carefully without allowing the water to splash back up onto the foliage.
  When overwintering tubers, keep only the biggest and best-looking roots. If the roots you pull up have yucky or rotten spots, then all your tubers will be rotten by the time spring comes.