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Margarita Sweet Potato Vine Ipomoea batatas

Flower Season
  • Spring
  • Summer
Mature Size
10" 5' 25cm 1.5m
Height: 4" - 10"
Spread: 4' - 5'
Height: 10cm - 25cm
Spread: 1.2m - 1.5m
Award Winner
  • Details

    4 - 10 Inches
    18 - 24 Inches
    48 - 60 Inches
    10cm - 25cm
    46cm - 61cm
    1.2m - 1.5m

    Features

    Vigorous, trailing, mounded growth with vibrant chartreuse foliage

    Award Winner
    Foliage Interest
    Heat Tolerant
    Deadheading Not Necessary

    Characteristics

    Plant Type: 
    Annual
    Height Category: 
    Short
    Garden Height: 
    4 - 10 Inches 10cm - 25cm
    Trails Up To: 
    72 Inches 1.8m
    Spacing: 
    18 - 24 Inches 46cm - 61cm
    Spread: 
    48 - 60 Inches 1.2m - 1.5m
    Flower Shade: 
    None
    Foliage Colors: 
    Green
    Foliage Colors: 
    Yellow
    Foliage Shade: 
    Chartreuse
    Habit: 
    Trailing
    Container Role: 
    Spiller

    Plant Needs

    Light Requirement: 
    Part Sun to Sun

    The optimum amount of sun or shade each plant needs to thrive: Full Sun (6+ hours), Part Sun (4-6 hours), Full Shade (up to 4 hours).

    Maintenance Category: 
    Easy
    Bloom Time: 
    Grown for Foliage
    Hardiness Zones: 
    11a, 11b
    Water Category: 
    Average
    Uses: 
    Container
    Uses: 
    Landscape
    Uses Notes: 

    Use in hanging baskets, beds, borders and window boxes

    Maintenance Notes: 

    Ipomoeas are great additions to combination planters, but they can sometimes overwhelm less vigorous plants. If you are like me you can let your combination plants duke it out Darwinian style, however, if you prefer to keep a more balanced look to your combination planters, you can cut back or remove stems at any time.

    Ipomoeas also make great annual groundcovers in the landscape. They love the heat and humidity (growing up to 36" a week in the Deep South), cooler temperatures and low humidity cause them to stay more compact.

    While Sweet Potatoes all come from the same parent material out of Southeast Asia, there is a big difference between the Sweet Potato you buy in the store and the tubers produced by the Sweet Caroline and the Illusion plants. Commercial sweet potatoes have been bred for over 100 years selecting for those with the best sugar to starch content (hence the name SWEET Potato), the ornamental have been bred to produce good leaves and no tubers, though they do form, they are composed of almost pure starch and no sugar; making them a poor choice for eating. So yes you can eat the tubers, but don't expect anyone to come back for seconds! Also always be careful when eating any ornamental plant unless you know how it was grown, and if pesticides or fungicides were used on it before you got it; a tuber is a storage root, and yes they store chemical as well as starch.

    An application of fertilizer or compost on garden beds and regular fertilization of plants in pots will help ensure the best possible performance.

    "A Real Simple magazine Top 10 goofproof Plant"

    "A Real Simple magazine - Top 10 goofproof Plant"

  • 11 Reviews

    5
    6
    4
    3
    3
    2
    1
    1
    1
    Browse reviews from people who have grown this plant.
    • Eye-catching color. Looks great flowing down a rock wall or over the side of a large container.

      Annette
      , British Columbia
      , Canada
      , 13 years ago
    • Wow what a vigorous plant! People ask me all over town what it is. I think it would take over my house if I let it. This is great in the desert southwest. Needs little to no care. It has been happy with what little rain we get.

      Jeanne
      , New Mexico
      , United States
      , 13 years ago
    • Terrific. It produced sweet potatoes, too!!!

      Kateri Dupuis
      , Wisconsin
      , United States
      , 13 years ago
    • We ended up with MANY large "potato's" they tasted great too

      Paul Hill
      , New York
      , United States
      , 13 years ago
    • I love this plant in everyone else's containers, but in mine, it just sits there, looking anemic. I don't know what the problem is, but it sure is frustrating.

      Melody
      , Washington
      , United States
      , 13 years ago
    • Beautiful plant that gets a lot of complements. Be careful where you put it since it can get away from you in a hurry!

      Christianne
      , Oklahoma
      , United States
      , 13 years ago
    • such a beautiful plant in hanging baskets. I love this plant so much that I hate to see winter come and it go away. I brought a bunch of pieces in the house and took some to work.

      Yolanda Walker
      , Ohio
      , United States
      , 13 years ago
    • Russell Studebaker
      , Oregon
      , United States
      , 13 years ago
  • 12 Awards

    Award Year Award Plant Trial
    2007 Best of the Zoo Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
    2007 Best of the Zoo Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
    2007 Best of the Zoo Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
    2007 Best of the Zoo Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
    2006 Bronze Medal University of Illinois-Champaign County Master Gardeners
    2006 Bronze Medal University of Illinois-Champaign County Master Gardeners
    2006 Bronze Medal University of Illinois-Champaign County Master Gardeners
    2006 Bronze Medal University of Illinois-Champaign County Master Gardeners
    2004 Top Picks Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
    2004 Top Picks Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
  • 4 Recipes

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