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Sweet Caroline Medusa Green Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine Ipomoea batatas

Flower Season
  • Spring
  • Summer
Mature Size
12" 2'6" 30cm 76cm
Height: 6" - 12"
Spread: 18" - 2'6"
Height: 15cm - 30cm
Spread: 46cm - 76cm
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  • Details

    6 - 12 Inches
    12 - 18 Inches
    18 - 30 Inches
    15cm - 30cm
    30cm - 46cm
    46cm - 76cm

    Features

    Great foliage component plant in combinations; excellent heat tolerance and good vigor. This variety features unique crown shaped, many fingered foliage unlike anything you've seen in sweet potato vine.  The plants are more mounded, less trailing with overlapping leaves which lends a unique and fun flavor to this new introduction. It can sub for a Boston fern basket that likes more sun and needs less water. In other words it's easier to care for.

    Award Winner
    Foliage Interest
    Heat Tolerant
    Deadheading Not Necessary

    Characteristics

    Plant Type: 
    Annual
    Height Category: 
    Short
    Garden Height: 
    6 - 12 Inches 15cm - 30cm
    Trails Up To: 
    30 Inches 76cm
    Spacing: 
    12 - 18 Inches 30cm - 46cm
    Spread: 
    18 - 30 Inches 46cm - 76cm
    Foliage Colors: 
    Green
    Foliage Shade: 
    Green with Purple Accents
    Habit: 
    Mounding Trailing
    Container Role: 
    Filler

    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 ground cover, as well as in combinations and 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.

    Ipomoeas also make great annual groundcovers in the landscape. 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.

    Sweet Caroline Medusa Green Ipomoea batatas 'NCORNSP-027SCMG' USPP 34,146, Can 6,646
  • 1 Review

    5
    1
    4
    3
    2
    1
    Browse reviews from people who have grown this plant.
    • My garden will never be without these beauties again! GREAT filler plant for containers. Next year I plan to use it as a substitute for boston ferns in my hanging baskets on my front porch. They stay lush and green and keep a nice form in a mound. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

      Rachel Potter
      , Mississippi
      , United States
      , 3 years ago
  • 38 Awards

    Award Year Award Plant Trial
    2023 Top Performer Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
    2022 Perfect Score Michigan State University
    2022 Top Performer Oklahoma State University Botanical Gardens
    2022 Best of Species, 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 Florida - Fort Lauderdale
    2022 Top Performer University of Guelph
    2022 Top Performer Mississippi State University - Poplarville
    2022 Top Performer Boerner Botanical Garden
  • 4 More colors

  • 26 Recipes

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