We have had Desert Morning Glory growing here for several years, for the most part they are fairly unassuming and make for a good ground cover around the fruit and nut trees where they fill in a thick mat all on their own. About the only care for them is yanking them out by the rope tote full from time to time to feed to the chickens.
These are truly carefree plants that will spread to anywhere that gets moderate water all on their own. Being a lazy gardener any plant that takes care of itself and is good for compost or the chickens is a winner. The Desert Morning Glory is a rambler growing in thick clumps on stubby vines that break with little effort making it very easy to rake to thin them and keep them healthy and at the same time collect considerable amounts of biomass in short order.
These also make lots of white flowers the Honey bees frequent and a good garden can never have too many flowers. Between the Honey bees, the Bumble and Carpenter bees and the Humming birds we got a lot of mouths to feed.
This striking flower volunteered this year and we have identified it as Star of Yelta Morning Glory. With its rich purple edges blending to a white cone at its base the Star of Yelta flowers make for a great photo op. The light coming in through the white cone seems to get amplified as it shines its way out.
I have collected seed from this lone vine that showed up here this year and will do some starts in the spring to get some more of these and spread them around the gardens. This vine is far different from the Desert Morning glory making a fairly tough, long vine that loves to climb. Looking forward to naturalizing this plant so that it free seeds itself each year reliably to give us many opportunities to appreciate the depth of color in its flowers and of course help us keep the masses depending on us well fed.