I have experimented with Morning glorys this year. I have a vinyl fence that I put strings up on and planted Morning glory plants..in about 6 weeks the fence is covered... problem is they have taken over the bed I planted them in.

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OP's MG look like they have spider mites.. something is on the back of the leaves.. sucking vital juices.. hence the speckled look ...

some water and mulch.. will help also .. increase vigor ...

robs are out of this world ... and way ahead of schedule ...

ken

Agreed, Ken.

I had given up trying mg, because I never got a single bloom. Someone included some this year in a seed trade, so I went ahead and planted them...what else was I going to do with them? I actually have blooms this year! And they're gorgeous purply ones. The vines aren't tall, but I still have about 6 weeks growing season left!

Yepper, those MG leaves in OP' photo look just like mine this year. Normally I never have a problem growing MG, but this year - not so lucky. I had maybe two blooms early on, now have lots and lots of foliage but no blooms. After the buds form and when still tiny, they actually will turn brown and crispy and drop off. I've tried watering, leaves turn yellow like it makes the plant unhappy. I've seen some webbing - perhaps spider mites like Ken mentioned.

mytime, if those "purply" MG's are Grandpa Otts, no wonder you had no problem getting blooms this year....and probably won't for years to come!

LOL, that's one thing about gardening in the north...I don't think I'll have to worry about morning glories reseeding!

If so, they're easy to pull. I let them go wild in 2 places last year on fences that border beds but the sprouts are super-easy to handle compared to tree seedlings or something like Oxalis stricta. Easy to see, comes out easily and dies on the first pull.