May 16, 2007
Sweet Potato Vine—A Great Choice for the Flower Garden
This year, I have more vines than ever growing in my garden. I have five different types growing now and have plans to plant a few more. One vine that I have growing in two locations is sweet potato vine.
If you haven’t added sweet potato vine to your garden before, you should give it a try this summer. Sweet potato vine is the same plant that you might find in the vegetable garden. But these varieties have been bred for their foliage not tubers.
I chose a variety called ‘Marguerite” for its bright yellow green foliage. Many of the accents plants I’ve planted this year are a similar chartreuse green to ‘Marguerite.”
I planted the vines in flowerbeds to soften the edges and to fill some odd shaped bare areas. While many people plant them in the ground as I did, they are also at home in hanging baskets and containers. The trailing tendrils of heart-shaped leaves give a softer look to containers and give a feeling of lush, tropical growth.
While this is the first year that I’ve planted ‘Marguerite”, I have grown a purple-colored variety named ‘Blackie’ many times. I have found them to be relatively pest- and disease-free. My biggest problem has been that deer find the vines tasty. On more than one summer morning, I have gone out into the garden to find the deer had done some “pruning” on my vines.
Sweet potato vines prefer full sun but will tolerate light shade. Keep the soil moderately moist at all times. When the soil gets too dry, the vines will noticeably wilt, but the plant revives quickly after a thorough watering.