Sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas named for its edible cousin is an ornamental warm season annual grown for its attractive leaves and vining habit the foliage lends a tropical feel to the garden and comes in a range of colors and varying forms.
Sweet potato vine care outdoors.
Ornamental sweet potato vine ipomoea batatas is valued for its colorful foliage and rapid easy care growth habits.
Although the plant works well as a ground cover it is especially effective.
Container planting can be especially attractive on your patio or deck because ornamental sweet potato is such a lively grower that it spills over the sides of containers and hanging baskets with great abandon.
Typically used as spillers in containers they also make fantastic groundcovers typically spreading 4 to 6 feet.
While tolerant of drought these plants prefer to be kept moist not soggy.
Taking care of your ornamental sweet potato plants in containers.
How to grow sweet potato vines.
Gardeners turn to the sweet potato vine for its ability to power through just about anything while bringing interesting shapes sizes and colors to a pot or plot.
A vigorous annual or a tender perennial it takes off in summer heat.
They also are popular as indoor plants and can be grown inside year round or just during the cold of winter.
Its wide variety of colors and enthusiastic growth can provide interest and even shade to your outdoor container garden.
Ornamental sweet potato vines are versatile plants that are equally suitable for filling outdoor containers spilling over a wall or covering ground in a landscape bed.
Though prolific growers you may fertilize monthly if desired using a general all purpose water soluble fertilizer.