Skip to Content Skip to Navigation
Menu

Illusion® Penny Lace Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine Ipomoea batatas

Flower Season
  • Spring
  • Summer
Mature Size
10" 3' 25cm 91cm
Height: 6" - 10"
Spread: 2' - 3'
Height: 15cm - 25cm
Spread: 61cm - 91cm
Award Winner
  • Details

    6 - 10 Inches
    12 - 18 Inches
    24 - 36 Inches
    15cm - 25cm
    30cm - 46cm
    61cm - 91cm

    Features

    Great foliage component plant in combinations; excellent heat tolerance and good vigor. The Illusions have finely cut foliage, reminiscent of Japanese maple foliage. It's a unique look for ornamental sweet potato vine.

    Award Winner
    Foliage Interest
    Heat Tolerant
    Deadheading Not Necessary

    Characteristics

    Plant Type: 
    Annual
    Height Category: 
    Short
    Garden Height: 
    6 - 10 Inches 15cm - 25cm
    Trails Up To: 
    30 Inches 76cm
    Spacing: 
    12 - 18 Inches 30cm - 46cm
    Spread: 
    24 - 36 Inches 61cm - 91cm
    Foliage Colors: 
    Red
    Foliage Shade: 
    Copper Red
    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: 
    Groundcover
    Uses: 
    Landscape
    Uses: 
    Mass Planting
    Uses Notes: 

    Works great in landscapes as an annual groundcover, as well as in combinations grown as a spiller and in containers by themselves.  The plant is very adaptable, working in both sun and shade conditions, atlhough the colors are deeper and brighter in full sun than they are in shadier environments where colors are tinged with more green.

    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.

    These Ipomoeas also make great annua annual vines for a trellis or to make a teepee for fun. They love the heat and humidity, 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.

    Illusion® Penny Lace Ipomoea batatas 'NCORNSP-030ILPL' USPPAF, Can PBRAF
  • 10 Awards

    Award Year Award Plant Trial
    2022 Top Performer University of Minnesota - Morris
    2022 Directors Select, Best Performance Penn State University
    2022 Top Performer Mississippi State University - Crystal Springs
    2022 A Top 10 All Season Average - Conatiners North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
    2022 Top Performer University of Minnesota - Grand Rapids
    2022 Perfect Score Michigan State University
    2022 Top Performer University of Florida - Fort Lauderdale
    2022 Top Performer Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
    2022 Top Performer University of Delaware
    2022 Top Performer Mississippi State University - Poplarville
  • 2 More colors

  • 5 Recipes

Back to Top

Find plants you love and create idea boards for all your projects.

To create an idea board, sign in or create an account.