Beautiful Joseph!!! That was my very first Nil to grow!

Yup. I agree - so pretty

It gets even more mesmerizingly fascinating when you consider how the same maritime culture that produced these morning glory flowers with wave patterns like Akatsuki no Tsuyu (similar to what came to me as Blue Silk and comes from light seeds) and Sazanami I (came to me as Blue Silk, also and comes from dark seeds)- also produced a masterpiece like Hokusai's woodcut called The Great Wave Offshore of Kanagawa between 1826 and 1833 - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa.jpg

Waving at Joseph & Ronnie,
Karen

perhaps there's a more correct name for this flower's pattern than wave?

Just beautiful Joseph.

but have a question for you.

How do you keep the blooms blue from year to year from your collected seeds.

Can't even remember now where my original seeds came from, but they where a trade several years ago..

First 2 years beautiful blue blooms, after that, no matter what I do or where I grow them or how I grow them, they all end up blooming lavender silk. From when they open until late in the day, they start and end up lavender.

Got any secrets to share on how to keep them blue?

Better yet, got some seeds that you will be trading?

Fran

That is stunning Joseph!

Hi Karen, thanks for comments and for the link to the woodcut of the tsunami. The waves in the woodcut I can truly see it Blue Silk's flowers. Quite remarkable!

Fran, I got the lavender Blue Silk flower this year. It arose from the tan colored seed lot I am growing. I will try to isolate that vine so I can get a pure blue flowering collection going. I should be able to trade seeds of this one with you and others.

Ronnie, I can't remember what my first Ipomoea nil strain was...I think it was Scarlett O'Hara. Then it was Akatsuki no Umi. Then it was Karen-bar-the-door LOL who can not love these fabulous flowering plants??

Hi Barb / Rosepedal, thanks!! What JMGs are you growing this year? Are they a challenge to grow in zone 4?

Joseph

They are gorgeous, Joseph. I lost all the ones you sent me, hint, hint:)

I have one Heavenly Blue blooming today, and Grandpa Ott's, and some hot pink ones.

Betsy

Joseph - that last picture is just a supreme work of art - I'm drooling over it along with everyone else. My Blue Silks were quite chewed and tattered for their portrait.

Are you referring to moi as in "Karen-bar-the-door"? In any case, this Karen is certainly not going to be barring any doors to morning glories. Besides, we are all going to be needing morrrrre than just one barn for our morning glory passions heehee

Karen

Hi Betsy, so good to see you too! I am sure we can do trades later on in the year. We must figure out how to get these Japanese morning glories to thrive in your east Texas home.

Karen, LOL well you guessed it. I guess my school yard sense of humor is being released now that I have divested myself from Mordor. LMBO

Joseph

Good one Joseph!!

I planted a couple containers of Blue Silk, with each container having 6 or 7 vines. The strain always gave tons of seeds but this year got much less than expected. Maybe I put too many vines in the large container. Live and learn with these plants.

This has got to be the prettiest morning glory I've ever seen. Thanks for the great pictures.

Joseph, you have some gorgeous blooms. I love the blue MG the best. Where can I find this type of MG seed? I grew chocolate silk and tye dye MG this summer and I am now hooked and looking for more:)

Denise

lovely

Thank you, jaynine, Denise/antiqueorchid and dragonsmist!

Denise, I ought to have seeds of Blue Silk in the next week or so. It's taking the vines a bit longer to develop the seeds. Was your chocolate silk JMG a dense chocolate color or on the milk chocolate side of the spectrum? Have a picture of it?

Joseph

Joseph, your Mordor really caught my funny bone - I haven't been able to laugh about it at all up until now. Maybe there's hope yet for our Hobbit Paradise. Although methinks I see quite a variety of paradises here - dragons and little people and what's a paradise without orchids?

Thanks again for that laugh - may I never recover from it -

Karen

Thanks, Karen, gotta keep laughing otherwise you lose your sanity altogether.

Sure wish we could melt that ring down soon. LOL

Joseph, here is a picture of the Chocolate silk.

Denise