Sweet potato vine!

Earlier this spring I shared the photo at left of our flower cart plantings. I was excited because the sweet potato tubers I'd saved from last year had sprouted and were beginning to produce a vine. Well! Just look how that turned out! I've actually had to trim it back a little. My pansies lasted clear into July, but finally between the extreme heat and the drought, they gave up the ghost and I replaced them with small geraniums. But the coleus and this wonderful sweet potato vine are the stars of the show. I'm definitely saving those tubers for next year. (That's another vine you see taking over the pot behind the cart near the steps.) I'm declaring this a huge success!

5 comments :

Rosanne said...

Beautiful sweet potato vines.
I love your gardens!!

Deborah Raney said...

Thank you, Rosanne! It's been a challenge this hot summer, but the gardens still give us lots of joy!

Melanie said...

Love it!! I have a black sweet potato vine, the first ever time of trying it. Doesn't look like yours, but it is starting to grow now. I want to save the tuber this fall too, did you just put it in a cool place?

Deborah Raney said...

We've had the black before, too, and in fact, I thought some of the tubers I planted this year were the black, but either I was wrong, or those didn't come up.

I just put them whole in a paper bag and stored them in the garage (which is very cold, but not freezing.) Then, when it was time to plant this spring, I cut them into 4 or so pieces each and stuck them in the dirt. I'd almost forgotten about them when they started coming up, but wow did they grow fast once they got started! I have a cutting on the kitchen counter now to see if it will root so I can fill in for some of the plants we lost in the heat.

Melanie said...

Great!! I'll try it out. .if your vine in the window roots, please email me and let me know. .I could also make a number of cuttings to root in the greenhouse this winter!! Thanks for the advice!