Read informative information and tips about fence winches here. Find out here whether Calystegia are poisonous or edible. This is how you combat fence bindweed correctly.
Is the morning glory poisonous or edible?
The morning glory (Calystegia) is a herbaceous, left-winding plant from the morning glory family. It is mildly toxic and should not be consumed as its various toxic glycosides can cause stomach upset, nausea and diarrhea.
Profile
- Scientific name: Calystegia
- Family: Convolvulaceae
- Growth type: herbaceous, deciduous creeper
- Growth characteristics: left-winding
- Status: wild plant, weed
- Occurrence: roadsides, natural gardens
- Leaf: arrow-shaped
- Flower: Funnel
- Flowering period: May to September
- Root: Rhizomes with runners
- Toxicity: slightly toxic
- Use: ornamental plant, medicinal plant
Toxicity
The morning glory is permeated by various toxic glycosides. Because of these plant substances, the genus Calystegia is classified as a mildly poisonous wild plant. As a result, flowers, leaves, roots and other parts of the plant are not edible. Intentional or unintentional consumption causes diarrhea, nausea, stomach problems and, in worst cases, vomiting in sensitive people.
Bloom
With their picturesque flowers, morning glories give the illusion that they are harmless ornamental plants. In reality, the morning glories transport their bright white floral decorations towards the sky with rapidly twining shoots. The flower of a morning glory can be recognized by the following characteristics:
- Flower shape: stalked, fivefold, funnel-shaped corolla
- Flower color: bright white to soft pink
- Size: flower crown with 5 cm to 7 cm in diameter
- Flowering period: May to September
- Flower ecology: hermaphrodite
- Pollination: morning glories, hoverflies, self-pollination
- Special feature: Flowers are open day and night, only close in rainy weather.
After the flowering period, brown capsule fruits with egg-shaped seeds emerge, which happily participate in reproduction.
Root
The roots are responsible for invasive spread and explosive reproduction. Bindweed forms creeping rhizomes that grow to a depth of 70 centimeters. Fatally, the epically long roots creep underground in all directions. New offshoots grow from sprouting tubers at the ends. A small piece of root is enough to create a new fence bindweed. As survival organs, the rhizomes overwinter in the soil and send young twining shoots on their journey through your garden in spring.
With the vital roots as support, the twining shoots quickly conquer fences, posts, perennials, flowers and tree trunks. For a 360° counter-clockwise turn, the tendril of a fence bindweed takes almost 2 hours.
Usage
The fence bindweed has been the gardener's faithful companion in the cottage garden, monastery garden and ornamental garden since the Middle Ages. In ancient times, wild herbs played a relatively minor role in folk medicine. Today, wild plants in natural gardens polarize as wasteful summer bloomers or annoying weeds. The following table provides an overview of known possible uses:
| As an ornamental plant | As a medicinal plant |
|---|---|
| Advantages: | Healing effects: |
| + rich in flowers | + emollient |
| + opaque | + diuretic |
| + easy to care for | + soothing |
| Application options: | Areas of application: |
| + Fence peeper | + Constipation |
| + Balcony privacy screen | + Bile weakness |
| + Groundcover | + Liver weakness |
| + summer green facade greening | + Fever |
Can't get used to the benefits of ornamental plants or medicinal herbs? On the contrary, are the penetrating fence twigs a thorn in your side? You can find out in the video why you are not alone in this. Continue reading. In the next section you will learn how to successfully combat morning glories as weeds without chemicals.
Video: Annoying fence bindweeds annoy hobby gardeners
Fighting fence bindweed
Pleasured hobby gardeners know the problem. The bindweed with deep roots cannot be pulled like conventional weeds. Pulling on the thin twining shoots only removes the above-ground parts of the plant. The tendrils cannot be removed from perennials or flowers without leaving fatal injuries to the host plants. However, you are not fighting a lost battle in the fight against annoying fence winds. Two methods have proven to be excellent in natural gardens:
Wear down fence winds
- Cut off above-ground plant parts at ground level with a hoe or scythe
- Carry out the measure several times during the season
- Dispose of shoots with capsule fruits and seeds in household waste or organic waste
- Just let trailing shoots on perennials or flowers dry out and do not pull them off
By consistently removing all shoots, leaves and flowers just above the ground, the rhizomes will eventually run out of nutrients. If you stay on the heels of the weeds with this attrition tactic, the wild plants will stop growing after a year or two. How to get rid of morning glories in the garden within one season, read the following section:
Stop light supply
No photosynthesis without sunlight. This is the successful formula for quickly combating fence bindweed in the garden. Spread a dark covering of cardboard or mulch over the weedy area. You can hide the unsightly appearance with bark mulch, pine bark or wood chips.
Excursus
Twin bindweed – invasive bindweed twin
Successful combating of fence bindweed can be literally transferred to a penetrating twin. The field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) looks very similar to a fence bindweed. Both morning glory plants wrap themselves around any suitable surface in a counterclockwise direction at a record-breaking speed. The most important difference is the flowers. Morning glory flowers are bright white and up to 7 cm large. Soft pink bindweed flowers are half the size.
Planting morning glories
In the natural garden, the fence winch is a direct hit for decoratively greening unsightly downpipes or facades within a short period of time. The lush wild plants are most beautifully displayed as fence gazers, for example on the rustic picket fence in the farm garden.
Growing by sowing is possible all year round on the bright windowsill at 20° to 25° Celsius. The perennial nursery has ready-made fence bines available for you in spring and summer.
Location
Young plants spend two weeks in a partially shaded place before planting. Following this hardening, advanced fence winches are optimally prepared for a location with these general conditions:
- Sunny to partially shaded
- Nutritious, deep soil
- Fresh-moist, loose and well-drained
Plants
The planting window is open from March to October. How to plant morning glories correctly:
- Put the root ball in the pot in water
- Raking and weeding the site
- Incorporate 3 to 4 liters of compost and 100 grams of horn shavings per square meter
- Dig planting hole
- Unpot the morning glory, plant it and water it
- Place a trellis next to the plant
By attaching the lower shoots to the climbing aid, you give a fence winch the desired growth direction. If the wild plants serve as ground cover, please remove all potential climbing aids from the bed.
Maintaining the fence bindweed
Like all wild plants, morning glories are easy to care for. The perennials tap into groundwater with their deep roots. Organic starter fertilization in spring covers the nutrient requirements. By cutting in late winter you clear the way for this year's budding. You can read useful tips about care in the following sections:
Pouring
Young plants rely on regular watering in the first few weeks and months. At this time the roots are making their way towards the groundwater. Water well-rooted morning glories when the summer is dry. Allow the water to run directly onto the root disk. The picturesque funnel flowers close in no time when you spray the climbing beauties with the water hose.
Fertilize
Ideally cover the high nutrient consumption with compost and horn shavings. At the end of March and beginning of June, sprinkle 3 liters of compost soil and 100 grams of horn shavings (€9.00 on Amazon) on one square meter of cultivation area. Rake in the organic fertilizer and water again for rapid absorption of the nutrients. Alternatively, spray the root slice with nettle liquid every 14 to 21 days.
Cutting
At the end of the flowering period or in late winter, cut off all above-ground parts of the plant. Place scissors or a perennial sickle just above the ground. To prevent uncontrolled proliferation, do not dispose of the clippings in the compost. Root pieces and seeds sometimes survive the decomposition process in the compost heap.
Popular varieties
The flower-rich genus Bindweed (Calystegia) provides the creative hobby gardener with picturesque natural hybrids and magnificent species as easy-care ornamental plants for garden design, as the following selection shows:
- True morning glory (Calystegia sepium): white calyxes, up to 7 cm in diameter, beautiful ornamental and medicinal plant.
- Beautiful morning glory (Calystegia pulchra): large, pink flowers with white stripes, climbs to a height of 3 m.
- Beach morning glory (Calystegia soldanella): pink-creamy-white funnel flowers, ideal ornamental plants for sandy-gravelly locations.
- Wild Morning Glory (Calystegia macrostegia): beautiful vine with white, purple-marked flowers.
- Morning glory (Calystegia occidentalis): American morning glory with creamy white, voluminous goblet flowers.
FAQ
Are morning glories poisonous to rabbits?
Rabbits love to eat morning glories. They instinctively appreciate the healing effects of wild herbs for digestive problems. Treat your pet to this delicious, healing treat, because morning glories are not poisonous to rabbits. This also applies to the field bindweed. Rabbit nutrition experts recommend that both wild plants should not be missing from the daily meadow mix.
What is the difference between field bindweed and field bindweed?
From a botanical perspective, the field bindweed belongs to the genus Calystegia and the field bindweed belongs to the genus Convolvulus. Morning glory blooms from May to September with bright white, 5 cm to 7 cm large funnel flowers. The flowers of a field bindweed are half the size, pastel pink and appear from June to September.
Are the leaves of morning glories edible?
No, consumption is strongly discouraged. Bindweed contains toxic glycosides and other plant substances that are not good for the human stomach. Medieval folk medicine used leaves and other parts of plants to relieve constipation or flatulence. In modern homeopathy, however, the healing effect is doubted, especially since severe diarrhea and other unpleasant side effects can occur if the dosage is incorrect.
Can you fight fence bindweed with herbicides?
The use of chemical sprays is frowned upon in hobby gardens and is not recommended. Basically, the effort is just as time-consuming as manual control. To ensure that your ornamental plants are not wetted by the toxic spray mist, the herbicide is applied to each individual leaf with a brush. In field tests it was found that even highly effective, systemic weed killers could not control all rhizomes of a fence bindweed.
Does the bee-friendly garden benefit from fence bindweed?
In fact, morning glory flowers contain plenty of pollen and nectar for bees, bumblebees, beetles and butterflies. The rare morning glory moth (Agrius convolvuli) even makes the long journey from the Mediterranean to us every summer to snack on the flower nectar. After successful reproduction, the valuable caterpillars feed on the leaves.
