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Sweet Caroline Upside Black Coffee Ornamental Sweet Potato Vine Ipomoea batatas

Flower Season
  • Spring
  • Summer
Mature Size
6' 3' 1.8m 91cm
Height: 3' - 6'
Spread: 18" - 3'
Height: 91cm - 1.8m
Spread: 46cm - 91cm
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  • Details

    36 - 72 Inches
    18 - 24 Inches
    18 - 36 Inches
    91cm - 1.8m
    46cm - 61cm
    46cm - 91cm

    Features

    Great foliage component plant in combinations; excellent heat tolerance and good vigor. This variety features a unique climbing habit that is a twist on the usually trailing plant. Even with the climbing habit, the plant also trails nicely from the pot. It is unlike any sweet potato vine you've ever seen!

    Award Winner
    Foliage Interest
    Heat Tolerant
    Deadheading Not Necessary

    Characteristics

    Plant Type: 
    Annual
    Height Category: 
    Tall
    Garden Height: 
    36 - 72 Inches 91cm - 1.8m
    Trails Up To: 
    36 Inches 91cm
    Spacing: 
    18 - 24 Inches 46cm - 61cm
    Spread: 
    18 - 36 Inches 46cm - 91cm
    Foliage Colors: 
    Black
    Foliage Shade: 
    Black
    Habit: 
    Climbing
    Container Role: 
    Thriller

    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
    Uses: 
    Container
    Uses: 
    Groundcover
    Uses: 
    Landscape
    Uses: 
    Mass Planting
    Uses: 
    Specimen or Focal Point
    Uses Notes: 

    Works great in landscapes as an annual vine, as well as in combinations grown as a thriller on a trellis and in 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.

    These Ipomoeas also make great annua annual vines for a trellis or to make a teepee for fun. They love the heat and humidity, 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.

    Sweet Caroline Upside Black Coffee Ipomoea batatas 'NCORNSP-029SCBC' USPP 35,148, Can PBRAF
  • 1 Review

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    Browse reviews from people who have grown this plant.
    • I love this plant. I have it on a small trellis and it is really attaching to it. I did buy it later in the season, so it would have been much larger if I had bought it earlier in the season. It is a beautiful plant.

      Janet Lohmeyer
      , Oklahoma
      , United States
      , 1 year ago
  • 23 Awards

    Award Year Award Plant Trial
    2023 Perfect Score University of Florida - Fort Lauderdale
    2023 Perfect Score Oklahoma State University Botanical Gardens
    2023 Top Performer Michigan State University
    2023 Top Performer Boerner Botanical Garden
    2023 Best of Show - Shade, Best of Species Penn State University
    2023 Director's Select - Sun Penn State University
    2023 Leaders of the Pack - beds North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
    2023 Top Performer University of Delaware
    2023 Rated #2 in the Top Ten - beds North Carolina State, JC Raulston Arboretum
    2023 Top Performer Ohio State University Chadwick Arboretum - Springfield
  • 3 Recipes

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