The tubular flowers start out red but fade to orange then yellow. The flower spikes have all three colors present at the same time for a dramatic color show. It looked lovely in the Master Gardener Idea Garden last year. Morning glories, Ipomoea spp., are popular annual vines and certainly one of the fastest growing. They will grow almost anywhere, in any soil, and in full sun or partial shade.
Morning glories offer a large variety of flower colors.
Grandpa Ott's' from the Seed Savers Exchange is an heirloom variety with small deep purple flowers with red stars in the throat. Since morning glories often reseed, be careful where you plant them. Don't put them over the compost pile unless you want to seed your whole garden with morning glories. Like many annual vines, morning glories can be direct seeded into the garden after danger of frost, around May 15. The white and purple three-inch long speckled flowers look like smoking pipes dangling from the twining vine.