I'm growing sunflowers in the back row of my small garden and I've planted a general wildflower mix right in front of it. I noticed this vine growing where the wildflower mix was planted. It's starting to wrap around one of my sunflowers.
I thought it looked cool and so I kept it. Is this a weed that is actually going to destroy my sunflower?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/62188924@N04/7345377798/in/photostream
Now, my backyard is crazy with all sorts of weeds so I'm leaning towards it being a weed but I didn't want to pull it if it's part of the wildflower mix.
Thanks!
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hendi_alex
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Morning glory flowers are lovely but they tend to make a tangled mess and will over grow most plants. The vines are relatively easy to pull at any stage of growth, so it wouldn't hurt to let one go until you see its flower. On the other hand most common morning glory plants re-seed like crazy and are very difficult to control because of the number of seedlings produced. While I love the flowers, my morning glory volunteers are always removed. If I want morning glory flowers, I'll buy a variety that doesn't re-seed in this area.
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hendi_alex
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Yes, I noticed that at your flickr site, where you referred to those as pansys. Pansies have what look like little faces on them. The are cool whether plants that usually start to wilt with the first real wave of summer time heat. I couldn't see the vine in your photo, but thought that the flower looked like that of a morning glory or perhaps of some variety of petunia.
Morning glory is notorious for reseeding. Only a few flowers will make so many seeds that control becomes difficult. It is kind of interesting that morning glory is not listed as invasive. I guess because the vines are annuals and also are limited in the vine length, that they must rarely choke out other species. But even if they are not invasive, the vines are quite a nuisance and are difficult to control unless they can be grown in a very confined area.
Morning glory is notorious for reseeding. Only a few flowers will make so many seeds that control becomes difficult. It is kind of interesting that morning glory is not listed as invasive. I guess because the vines are annuals and also are limited in the vine length, that they must rarely choke out other species. But even if they are not invasive, the vines are quite a nuisance and are difficult to control unless they can be grown in a very confined area.
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rainbowgardener
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I would call that bindweed, but it's a subtle difference because bindweed is just wild morning glory. The only difference is that the bindweed will have morning glory like flowers, that are a bit smaller and less showy and probably just white.
Either way it is nasty, invasive, aggressive stuff and you want to get rid of it. Try not to pull it, because it will probably just snap off at ground level, leaving all the roots behind to resprout. Follow along the root with your trowel and dig as much of it out as you can. Any pieces left behind will re-grow. And Alex is right... NEVER let it go to seed!
They will choke out a lot of your other plants and even can be damaging to small trees, because their foliage grows on top of the tree foliage and shades it.
Either way it is nasty, invasive, aggressive stuff and you want to get rid of it. Try not to pull it, because it will probably just snap off at ground level, leaving all the roots behind to resprout. Follow along the root with your trowel and dig as much of it out as you can. Any pieces left behind will re-grow. And Alex is right... NEVER let it go to seed!
They will choke out a lot of your other plants and even can be damaging to small trees, because their foliage grows on top of the tree foliage and shades it.