‘Good Morning Pink’ Japanese morning glory

On a nursery prowl this past weekend, I came across ‘Good Morning Pink’ Japanese morning glory (Ipomoea nil ‘Good Morning Pink’), which has light pink flowers with a white border around the petal edges and a white throat. What caught my eye is the attractively variegated foliage, with prominent splashes of silver on wavy, maple-like medium green leaves. It’s no surprise this plant stood out on the nursery bench, because it’s often grown for its ornamental foliage alone.

My plant cart was heavily burdened and I was eager to check out and begin the challenge of fitting enough plants for a forest and a field into the car, and so grabbed just one pot without knowing what an intriguing plant I had. Poking around on Internet sites reveals that ‘Good Morning Pink’ is a short-vining morning glory 40 to 48 inches (1 to 1.2 m) tall. It’s just the right height to fill in at the bottom of leggy shrubs like lilacs and privet hedges.

I noticed the pot of ‘Good Morning Pink’ because it sat right next to some seedling moonflower vines (Ipomoea alba), which I was pleased to find. Moonflowers are a big feature on my part-shade deck in summer, and they set most of their flowers and foliage near the top of the climbing structures where light is more available. The lower part of the climbing supports is left open, and a short, eye-catching vine like ‘Good Morning Pink’ would be perfect for filling in this empty area. Now I wish I’d grabbed several pots of the Japanese morning glory, and perhaps I can still find some. It’s yet another example of putting the right plant into the perfect space.