Container Gardening Plants: Sweet Potato Vine

Sweet potato vine really is one of the most versatile and attractive plants to use in container gardening. It’s a vigorous grower which is a big plus in our short growing season and it comes in a variety of foliage colors and textures. Be sure to plant it with other plants of equal vigor to get the most out of this colorful foliage plant.

Sweet potato vine is an ornamental vegetable vine that does indeed grow tubers. However, they are not edible. While on the surface the tubers look similar to edible sweet potatoes, inside they are white and woody. Not poisonous, just not good. It’s still fun to dig them up in the fall though just to see how big they can get. In every container I’ve placed on soil, I’ve had the sweet potato vine grow through the drainage holes and grow tubers into the ground. Good anchor system for highly windy areas!

Sweet potato vine is grown for it’s foliage and while some flower in longer seasons, it generally will not in zone 4. There are many cultivars covering a wide range of foliage colors from chartreuse to black-burgundy. Leaf shape varies from heart-shaped to oak shaped with some lacy variations in some of the newer cultivars.

Marguerite is the most vigorous grower with heart-shaped chartreuse leaves. It blends well with most colors and brightens combinations without competing with flower color. As well as being the most vigorous, I find it to be the most compatible cultivar.

Blackie is a deep black-burgundy vine with oak shaped leaves. The leaf shape is wonderful for adding texture to a combination while the color adds drama. It blends will with pink and lighter purple shades. Some of my favorite plants to pair with this are either a plum vein petunia or Supertunia Bubblegum petunia. I love the juxtaposition of light colored flowers with the dark foliage. Stunning!

Other well-known (i.e. easy to find) cultivars include Black Heart, which has dark foliage and heart-shaped leaves and Tricolor, which has green, white and fuchsia foliage and an oak shaped leaf. Lesser known cultivars are the Sweet Caroline series which has red or bronze foliage.

New cultivars in either the Sidekick or Chillin’ lines offer these same colors and leaf shapes with a more compact growth habit. In many cases, these varieties will be better suited to smaller container gardens. However, be aware that true trailing action on these varieties won’t happen until late summer. Take this into account when you plant your combinations to get the look you want. That said, I used Sidekick Black Heart in a combo this summer and was very pleased with the result. It did vine less but was actually an advantage given the size of container that I used. It is also less likely to take over other plants.

Sweet potato vine also holds up fairly well to drought and is heat tolerant. It will wilt in extremely dry conditions but bounces back like a champ. This is a full sun plant but will grow in part sun as well. With this kind of flexibility and all the colors and textures available in sweet potato vine, chances are you’ll find one (or two, or three) that works for your container gardens.