Arizona Oddities

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us

logo

Arizona Oddities

  • Home
  • Your Guides
  • Departments
    • Art
    • Dose of History
    • Culture
    • Natural Surroundings
    • Odd Observations
    • Weather Talk
    • Food & Dining
    • Small Town Scene
    • Recreation
    • Only in Arizona
  • Get the Books
  • Contact Us
Natural Surroundings
Home›Natural Surroundings›Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow Morning Glories?

Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow Morning Glories?

By Andrea Aker
August 31, 2009
21251
15

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.

Purple Morning GloryNonetheless, 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.

(Visited 12,714 times, 3 visits today)

Related Posts:

  1. Arizona Oddities’ Top 10 Posts of 2015
  2. Arizona Oddities’ Top 10 Posts of 2013
  3. How to Grow a Mesquite Tree
Tagslawplants

15 comments

  1. Peter Jones 2 September, 2009 at 01:46 Reply

    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?

  2. joy bright 2 September, 2009 at 10:59 Reply

    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.

    • Carolyn 21 April, 2018 at 18:28 Reply

      I use vinegar also…..great on the environment and works like magic.

      • MJ 11 March, 2019 at 07:07 Reply

        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! ????

  3. laura 5 May, 2013 at 12:50 Reply

    I just bought some seeds at Target….

  4. shelby 5 September, 2015 at 18:34 Reply

    My mother used to grow these all over our backyard in Southwestern Arizona. Such a beautiful flower.

  5. ieasha 28 December, 2015 at 21:26 Reply

    They grow all over in MN

  6. Wilford Biggs 31 August, 2016 at 01:31 Reply

    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.

  7. B 26 April, 2017 at 18:04 Reply

    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?

  8. Laura 13 May, 2017 at 15:02 Reply

    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.

    • Markie 23 March, 2018 at 10:41 Reply

      Graffiti is illegal too

  9. Tammy Davis 3 August, 2018 at 11:07 Reply

    Yes graffiti is also illegal but I think graffiti is much more appealing to the eye than glory.

  10. Elisabeth Finn 15 June, 2019 at 05:08 Reply

    I live in PA my glories grow wild I love them

  11. Kristina M Harrison 25 June, 2019 at 20:10 Reply

    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?

  12. Mariko 16 October, 2019 at 23:44 Reply

    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!

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Arizona Oddities Archive

Most Popular Posts

  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home
  • How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard
  • What’s With All the Backyard Concrete-Block Fences…
  • Did You Know it’s Against the Law to Grow…
  • Four Deserts, One State

This Week Past Years

2018

  • The Anthem Hitchhiker Waits for a Ride to Nowhere

2017

  • Biosphere 2 Brings a Rainforest to the Arizona Desert

2016

  • Yuma's Bridge to Nowhere

2013

  • Winslow Chamber of Commerce Housed in Old Arizona Trading Post
  • Sculpture Garden at Yavapai College Features a Fancy, 5-Foot Frog

2012

  • What is Orange Stringy Substance Covering Desert Plants?
  • Arizona History Trivia 4: Can You Pass?

2011

  • What Causes "Pool of Water" Reflections on the Road?

2010

  • The Case of The Vanishing Train Robbers
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Find a Famous Writer and Explorer's Mountain Retreat in Greer

    Find a Famous Writer and Explorer’s Historic Mountain Retreat in Greer

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 31, 2020
  • thousands of Mexican free tail bats make Phoenix tunnel their summer home

    Thousands of Mexican Free-Tail Bats Make Phoenix Tunnel Their Summer Home

    By Taylor Haynes
    July 17, 2020
  • How to Keep Scorpions Away from Your Home

    By Andrea Aker
    January 3, 2011
  • Javelina

    How to Keep Javelinas Away from Your Yard

    By Andrea Aker
    November 23, 2011
  • Phil Motta
    on
    August 27, 2021

    Why Does Downtown Phoenix Seem to Have Two Downtowns?

    I know this post ...
  • Carol
    on
    October 17, 2020

    The Tucson Artifacts are the Southwest’s Greatest Hoax

    lol ... these "clues" ...

Follow us

© Copyright 2009 – 2023 Aker Ink, LLC :: Arizona Oddities is published by Aker Ink.