Sweet Potato Vine Marquerite

Ipomoea batatas

Characteristics

Culture

Sweet Potato Vine Marquerite is easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soils in full sun. It is a tender perennial that is winter hardy to USDA Zones 9 to 11. In colder regions, grow as an annual or dig tubers in fall. Best leaf color usually occurs in full sun. Consistently moist soils are best. If plants die in winter, replant in spring.

Noteworthy Characteristics

Ipomoea batatas, commonly called sweet potato or sweet potato vine, is native to tropical America. It is a tuberous rooted tender perennial that has been cultivated for its orange-fleshed edible tubers for over 2000 years. It was reportedly brought back to Europe from the New World by Columbus. Today, the sweet potato is a popular root vegetable that is grown in vegetable gardens and as a commercial food crop throughout the world. 

This vegetable has become a popular ornamental foliage plant. If grown as a ground cover, plant stems typically mound to 9” tall but spread by trailing stems to 8-10’ wide, rooting in the ground at the nodes as they go. Leaves of the ornamental varieties are heart-shaped to palmately-lobed (to 6” long) and come in bright green, dark purple, chartreuse and variegated (green with pink or white) colors. Although species plants produce pale pink to violet trumpet-shaped flowers, ornamental varieties usually do not flower. Tubers of the ornamental varieties are edible, but are not as tasty as those of the varieties specifically bred for food production.

Problems

No serious insect or disease problems. Watch for Aphid and Whit Flies.

Garden Uses

Species cultivars are ornamental subtropical vines that are most often used as sprawling ground covers or as foliage contrasts grown to hang down over the edge of containers or window boxes.