I have a raised deck off the back of my house, that gets way too hot to enjoy in the summer. It is also very windy where I live, since it is in a river canyon. So, we have barely used the deck. We bought a pergola for the deck yesterday, which is going to be wonderful for keeping the sun off of the deck for part of the day, but I would love to add some trellis to the sides and grow Morning Glory on it, to use as a wind break and sun screen for the sides. I was thinking of building planter boxes, and was wondering if Morning Glory will grow good in them? Also, how deep do they need to be? I've grown Morning Glory for years, but it has always been in the ground, and I've never really paid any attention to how deep the roots are growing.

The ground on both sides of the deck is covered in brick pavers and rock, which looks like nice. I really don't want to remove them unless I have to. I was thinking that planter boxes would keep me from having to do that. But, I'm willing to do remove some of the brick and rocks if that is the best way to grow it.

Thanks for any help!

I'm thinking Japanese morning glory may not do well in hot windy exposure. Maybe a honeysuckle vine or something similar?

Thanks Joseph. I talked my husband into this idea, which he was against, because I told him it would be even prettier than the Jackmanii clematis that we have at our other house. It's his favorite plant ever. Maybe I'll plant some clematis there, but of course, I do have to give the morning glory a try. I think I'll remove some bricks and rock and start them in the ground instead of a planter. That way, I can grow the clematis there eventually.

I've grown MG's in a 1 gallon pot with no problems. Just feed them a lot.

Thanks Anne! What do you feed them? I've never fed mine, but until this year, I've never grown anything fancy. I just stick the seeds in the ground and water them. I bought some good seeds on ebay from Joseph though, and want to take good care of them!

I use that plain old 1 tbs per gallon blue stuff and feed once a week.

No idea what that blue stuff is! I've been using seaweed fertilizer. Do you think that will work?

Miracle Grow .. I don't know what the elemental constituents are of seaweed fertilizer is .. if it's pure nitrogen then you don't want to use that.

Thanks Anne. I'll check what it is made up of first. I've used it on everything else with stunning results, but I know that all plants don't like the same thing. I stopped using Miracle Grow when I started using the seaweed stuff, because it worked better. I don't remember it being blue!

Pure nitrogen might make them concentrate more on leaves than flowers.

You can definitely grow them in planter boxes, but Joseph is right about the Japanese MGs not liking too much "weather." I grow the I. purpureas and I. tricolors in planters that are about 15 inches deep. The planter boxes in this photo are about 14 to 15 inches deep, about the same width and about 46" long.

woofie, that is GORGEOUS!!! Thanks for letting me know the depth of the boxes. I had no idea now deep they needed to be.

No matter where I grow these plants here, they will have to deal with some weather, so hopefully they will do okay. I have plenty of seeds, and 700 feet of fence to grow them on, so something is bound to do good, right?