Loulou, don't give up on moonflowers - Gerris has posted an image of another one on the Ipomoea home page - Ipomoea albivenia -
Morning Glory (Ipomoea albivenia) , which he over-winters indoors and makes a smaller plant than Ipomoea alba.
Some gardeners like to sow seeds of Ipomoea alba in the fall, overwinter them indoors, and then come warm summer outdoor temps, they have a much bigger plant with a more impressive show of flowers. The gardener I read who wrote about that was Italian.
But let me also add that long ago in the DG Morning Glory forum, there was a member who also gardened far up north in Sweden. Perhaps she might have been most successful with cultivars of Ipomoea purpurea, which have greater shade tolerance than some other morning glories like those belonging to Ipomoea nil, which she also grew. She successfully grew her MGs both indoors over winter in window sills without extra light and outdoors in her shorter summers. Personally, for me in Maryland, Ipomoea purpurea cultivars have performed beautifully in shade where an Ipomoea nil cultivar would just sulk.
While I'm nattering on about morning glories and shade and more northerly latitudes, you might also like to try cultivars of the interspecific hybrid Ipomoea youjiro, which is a hybrid of Ipomoea nil (larger showy flowers) and Ipomoea purpurea (greater tolerance of shade and other conditions that I. nils are pickier about). I don't remember off-hand what the current accepted name for I. youjiro is - maybe Gerris or Luvs know?
Anyone - feel free to correct or add to what I've posted here, including the names of other nocturnal Ipomoeas?
