Lakeshore Garden Centres Plant Finder

Group/Class:  Sweet Caroline Series

Brand:  Proven Winners

Description:

A unique climbing selection that features interesting dark purple-almost black foliage; doubles as a trailing plant that adds intrigue to hanging baskets and containers; excellent heat tolerance with good vigor; low maintenance and easy to grow

Ornamental Features

Sweet Caroline Upside™ Black Coffee™ Sweet Potato Vine is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its ornamental upright and spreading habit of growth. It features subtle lilac purple trumpet-shaped flowers along the stems from early to late summer. Its attractive deeply cut leaves emerge chartreuse in spring, turning deep purple in colour with hints of black throughout the season.

Landscape Attributes

Sweet Caroline Upside™ Black Coffee™ Sweet Potato Vine is a dense herbaceous annual with an upright spreading habit of growth. Its relatively coarse texture can be used to stand it apart from other garden plants with finer foliage.

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 Upside™ Black Coffee™ Sweet Potato Vine is recommended for the following landscape applications;

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

Planting & Growing

Sweet Caroline Upside™ Black Coffee™ Sweet Potato Vine will grow to be about 6 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. When grown in masses or used as a bedding plant, individual plants should be spaced approximately 24 inches apart. 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. This plant does not require much in the way of fertilizing once established. 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 Upside™ Black Coffee™ 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. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.