PRODUCT INFORMATION 

MOONFLOWER WHITE Night Flowering Vine Ipomoea alba Non-GMO 25 Seeds

Common Name(s): Moonflower, Moonvine, Tropical White Morning Glory

Description

Moonflower is a tender, low-maintenance, perennial vine grown as an annual in North Carolina. It gets its common names from its fragrant, nocturnal, white flowers, which open rapidly over the course of a few minutes. It is a member of the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). The species epithet is Latin for "white."

Plant in locations with well-draining clay, loam, or sandy soil that receive full sun. Moonflower can grow to 15 feet in height and 3 to 6 feet in width. The vines will grow slowly until the weather becomes very warm, at which time their growth rate becomes rapid. Propagate by seeds. Start 4 to 6 weeks before the last spring frost by soaking seeds overnight in warm water or nick with a file to break the seed coat.

Growing Tall Night Flowering Moonflower Garden Seeds

Tall Night Flowering moonflower seeds are one of the seasons hardiest performers and are most popularly sown outside after the frost. But for earlier blooming in colder climates, start seeds indoors 6-8 weeks prior and transplant once there are two sets of true leaves. Tall Night Flowering moonflower seeds will germinate with moisture in 14-21 days and young seedlings will require early staking or a trellis as they will rapidly vine more than a dozen feet high. Plant 2-3 Tall Night Flowering moonflower seeds ½" deep 12-36" apart (depending on desired vining habit) in rich, evenly moist, and well-drained soil in full sun. Tall Night Flowering moonflower is one of the gardens hardiest and most durable vining plants and have no known pests or diseases. Tall Night Flowering moonflower seeds will mature in about 112 days as fast-growing 15-20" tall vines with a 36-72" wide spread covered in enormous 5-6" fragrant ivory blooms.

Ipomoea alba, or more commonly known as Moonflower, is a tenacious vining variety native to the "New World" regions including warm and perennially humid climates from Argentina all the way north to Mexico and Florida. Ipomoea alba actually will vine as tall as 70-feet in its native tropical climates, but the domesticated moonflower available to seasonal gardeners generally averages only 12-20". Tall Night Flowering moonflower is one of the few varieties of plants that will open their blooms specifically at night emitting heavenly perfumes and aromas all night long.

Wildlife Value:

Nectar from flowers attracts night-flying moths. Members of the genus Ipomea support the following specialized bees: Melitoma taurea and Cemolobus ipomoeae.

How to Grow Moonflower From Seed

If you are harvesting seeds from an existing vine, make sure they have fully dried before you collect them from the seed pods left behind after the flowers fade. Start seeds indoors roughly four to six weeks before your area’s projected last frost date. Soak the seeds overnight in warm water or slightly nick them with a file to break their hard coating.

Then, plant them about 1/4 inch deep in a seed-starting mix. It’s ideal to use small biodegradable peat pots that you can just bury in the garden, as moonflower doesn’t like its roots disturbed with transplanting. Place the seeds in a warm spot that gets bright, indirect light, and keep the soil lightly moist until seedlings appear. Once outdoor temperatures are reliably warm, you can begin acclimating the seedlings to direct sunlight by placing them outdoors for increasingly long stretches each day. After about a week of this hardening-off procedure, the seedlings are ready to be planted outdoors.

Overwintering

In cold-winter zones where you are growing moonflower as an annual, pull the entire plant from the ground when the flowers have faded and the foliage begins to wither and turn brown. Leaving the vines in place may lead to a vast number of volunteer seedlings in the spring. Because these plants self-seed so vigorously, it's best not to add the dead plants to compost heaps, since many seeds are likely to survive.

In warm-weather zones where moonflowers continue to grow as perennials, winter is a good time to survey the ground and pluck out volunteer plants to prevent uncontrolled spread.