Ipomoea Red Cardinalis

Ipomoea Red Cardinalis is a twining climber with vivid crimson slender trumpet-shaped flowers that are beautifully set off by feathery gossamer foliage. Perfect to hide an unforgiving fence, climb a wall, or scramble through arbors and trellises. It grows quickly and is a favorite of butterflies and small birds.

They are a frost tender biennial in warm temperate regions, the sub tropics and tropics. Best frown as an annual in cool temperate, arid and cool mountain regions.

They prefer a humid climate and if this is not your gardening environment one very simple strategy for increasing humidity is to place plants close together, because groups of transpiring plants form pockets of humidity on their own.

They can be sown in Spring or Autumn. The seeds germinate readily, however they do have a hard outer coating which is impervious to water and generally germination will normally not occur unless the seed is treated with hot water first.

Place the seed in a container and pour in just boiled water and allow to soak overnight, the swollen seed can then be sown. Re-soak seeds that have not swollen. Sow 5mm deep and keep warm & moist but not wet. Germination should occur in 10-21 days at 18-22 Celsius.

Although they will tolerate dry soil, provide regular water for the best growth, and fertilize only if the soil is very poor.