Plant Encyclopedia

Group/Class:  Sweet Caroline Series

Brand:  Proven Winners

Description:

Excellent as an annual ground cover, or in combinations and containers; adaptable to sun and shade conditions; colors are deeper and brighter in full sun, in shadier environments colors are tinged with more green.

Ornamental Features

Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Jet Black™ Sweet Potato Vine is primarily valued in the garden for its spreading and trailing habit of growth. It features subtle lilac purple trumpet-shaped flowers along the stems from early to late summer. Its attractive heart-shaped leaves emerge chartreuse in spring, turning black in colour with curious deep purple undersides throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Jet Black™ Sweet Potato Vine is a dense herbaceous annual with a trailing habit of growth, eventually spilling over the edges of hanging baskets and containers. Its medium texture blends into the garden, but can always be balanced by a couple of finer or coarser plants for an effective composition.

This is a relatively low maintenance plant. The flowers of this plant may actually detract from its ornamental features, so they can be removed as they appear. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Jet Black™ Sweet Potato Vine is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Container Planting
• Hanging Baskets

Planting & Growing

Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Jet Black™ Sweet Potato Vine will grow to be about 12 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 30 inches. Its foliage tends to remain dense right to the ground, not requiring facer plants in front. This fast-growing annual will normally live for one full growing season, needing replacement the following year.

This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. You may want to keep it away from hot, dry locations that receive direct afternoon sun or which get reflected sunlight, such as against the south side of a white wall. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil type or pH. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America. It can be propagated by cuttings; however, as a cultivated variety, be aware that it may be subject to certain restrictions or prohibitions on propagation.

Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Jet Black™ Sweet Potato Vine is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor containers and hanging baskets. Because of its trailing habit of growth, it is ideally suited for use as a 'spiller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the edges where it can spill gracefully over the pot. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.