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'Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Red' Sweet Potato Vine Ipomoea batatas

Flower Season
  • Spring
  • Summer
Mature Size
16" 4'
Height: 6" - 16"
Spread: 3' - 4'
Award Winner
  • Details

    Features

    I do WONDERFUL things for a yard's SELF-ESTEEM.

    Great foliage component plant in combinations; excellent heat tolerance and vigor

    Award Winner
    Foliage Interest
    Heat Tolerant
    Deadheading Not Necessary

    Characteristics

    Plant Type: 
    Annual
    Height Category: 
    Short
    Garden Height: 
    6 - 16 Inches
    Trails Up To: 
    30 Inches
    Spacing: 
    10 - 12 Inches
    Spread: 
    36 - 48 Inches
    Foliage Colors: 
    Red
    Foliage Shade: 
    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
    Soil Fertility Requirement: 
    Average Soil
    Uses: 
    Container
    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 (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"

    'Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Red' Ipomoea batatas USPP 19,013, Can 2,904
  • 4 Reviews

    5
    3
    4
    1
    3
    2
    1
    Browse reviews from people who have grown this plant.
    • Tried this last year, was above and beyond other Ipomoea I have tried in the past.

      Murphy Greenhouses
      , Alberta
      , Canada
      , 12 years ago
    • Terrific plant. Beautiful earth tones-brown, red green as it grows. Heart shaped leaf. Tough to find.

      Julie D.
      , Massachusetts
      , United States
      , 12 years ago
    • First year buying this plant. Love the variegated colors.

      Dawn
      , Montana
      , United States
      , 12 years ago
  • 65 Awards

    Award Year Award Plant Trial
    2022 Top Performer Dallas Arboretum
    2012 Hall of Fame Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden
    2011 Superior (top 10%) Penn State
    2011 Top Performer Colorado State University
    2011 Top 10 - Summer North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
    2011 Top Performers Mississippi State University - Crystal Springs
    2011 Superior (top 10%) Penn State
    2011 Top Performer Colorado State University
    2011 Top 10 - Summer North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
    2011 Top Performers Mississippi State University - Crystal Springs
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