Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow Morning Glories?
Excerpt from Valley 101: A Slightly Skewed Guide to Living in Arizona, a collection of Clay Thompson’s columns for The Arizona Republic. (Originally published September 17, 2000.)
Q: Why is it against the law to grow morning glories in Arizona?
A: It is? Uh-oh. Excuse us. We have to dash home for a few minutes.
Yes, indeed, it is against Arizona law to grow morning glories. As far as we know, no one has ever been sent up for this offense, nor have there ever been, that we are aware of, turf struggles between elements of the criminal underclass vying to control the morning glory trade.
Nonetheless, it turns out that beneath its happy, colorful flowers beat the roots of a really nasty plant. According to Ed Northam, noxious-weed manager for the state Department of Agriculture, morning glories are “very aggressive, very invasive and very competitive.” In this, they remind us of our masters.
Turned loose in a field of cotton or some other crop,morning glories “can get so dense and thick that it can be very difficult or even impossible to harvest the crop,” Northam said. They can turn into a “tangled mass of hundreds and hundreds of vines in a square yard.”
There are a few native species of morning glory that are legal to grow in Arizona, but Northam said if you see a packet of morning glory seeds in a store or nursery, chances are pretty good that they are a banned variety. Inspectors are always checking for this and other banned plants, but some are bound to get through.
If his crews do find a patch of morning glories, Northam said, they work with the landowner to have them removed. If necessary, the state can have the growth killed off and bill the landowner for the work.
I noticed that Pennisetum ciliare – buffelgrass, is also an agricultural pest. I think I have some growing here and there in my yard. I’ve tried to kill it with just about every known brand of weed killer I can find (and with full strength) to no avail. I just keeps coming back. Does anyone know how to get rid of buffelgrass?
If anyone has weeds, difficult or otherwise that they want to be rid of I use vinegar. White vinegar is around $3.00 per gallon and I use it undiluted in my sprayer. Works great! Doesn’t harm wildlife.
I use vinegar also…..great on the environment and works like magic.
1 GAL Vinegar with 1 TBSP Dawn Dish Detergent is my go to spray. I like freaking people out by putting it in a Round-up bottle and spraying it on myself when they are looking at me! ????
I just bought some seeds at Target….
My mother used to grow these all over our backyard in Southwestern Arizona. Such a beautiful flower.
They grow all over in MN
We had them thick in our yard. I understood they were illegal because they would give you a high. Never tried it though. Get rid of them we had no problem, having an acre of ground we had two sheep and they cleaned that acre of all morning glories and a few other unwanted plants. The sheep both got so fat they would not breed. They sure liked the Morning Glories.
I’ve been growing morning glorys for 5 yrs now since i moved here. I just Started selling the seeds i harvest n i just got a message from someone telling me they r illegal. I bought the seeds originally from Home Depo….DoeSe anyone know which type of glorys are illegal?
Darn! And I wanted to fight graffiti with glory (Morning Glories). Thought it would be a good hardy vine to grow all over walls covered with graffiti.
Graffiti is illegal too
Yes graffiti is also illegal but I think graffiti is much more appealing to the eye than glory.
I live in PA my glories grow wild I love them
My mother had the most beautiful morning glories during my childhood in Illinois. I want to plant some in my back yard. Does anyone know which are legal in Az?
I used to have them back in Northern and Southern CA and they were so lovely on my pergola. I do not mind them being banned now that I am in AZ bc any part of my body that got in contact w the plant developed wheals like crazy!