Morning glory - True they grow to 8 feet tall?

[merrymary]

hello, I'd like to plant some morning glory flowers, but I understand they can grow to 8 ft. tall. Is this correct? Is a trellis best for support?

[rainbowgardener]

It's correct and yes they like a fence or trellis or something to climb. They aren't real heavy plants, so it doesn't have to be a massive structure. On the other hand, I personally don't really love morning glory. They are a cultivated version of the invasive bindweed, so named because it crawls over everything, binds it up and chokes it out. There are nice native vines, not so invasive. Clematis is cultivated and hybridized, but it started as a native vine rather romantically named Virgin's Bower (clematis virginiana). It's a gorgeous flowering vine that won't escape and take over your yard.

[Kisal]

I second the caution about the morning glories going wild and taking over your property. It's almost guaranteed to happen in my area, so although I think they're very pretty flowers, and I remember them fondly from my grandma's garden, I will not plant them in my yard. I fought ground bindweed where I lived before I moved to my present home, and let me tell you, after 3 years of spending hours every week rooting it up, I finally had to resort to using RoundUp. I don't like to use herbicides, even those that aren't supposed to be so bad for the environment, but I was getting nowhere fast trying to control the bindweed manually.

[merrymary]

Wow, I had no idea, thank you , I'm definitely going to re-consider planting this pretty but pesky flower!

[chefshelle]

I planted morning glories from a seed packet several years ago and I LOVE them! But, I planted them on the backside of our property on the fence. I had nothing else growing in that area, so them taking over was not a problem. If you dead-head them, they will come back every year!