Not the plant you're looking for? Search over 300,000 plants
Back to search results
Climber Wall Shrub

Ipomoea batatas 'Bonita'PBR

sweet potato 'Bonita'

A twining perennial climber to around 3m high, with heart-shaped green leaves and purple flowers in summer. Usually grown as an annual for its edible roots, which have pale tan-coloured skin lightly flushed with pink, and pale creamy flesh with a delicate nutty flavour

Join the RHS

Become an RHS Member today and save 25% on your first year

Join now
Size
Ultimate height
2.5–4 metres
Time to ultimate height
1 year
Ultimate spread
1.5–2.5 metres
Growing conditions
Loam
Sand
Moisture
Moist but well–drained, Well–drained
pH
Acid, Neutral
Colour & scent
StemFlowerFoliageFruit
Spring Green
Summer Purple Green
Autumn Green
Winter
Position
  • Full sun
Aspect

South–facing or West–facing

Exposure
Sheltered
Hardiness
H1C
Botanical details
Family
Convolvulaceae
Native to the UK
No
Foliage
Deciduous
Habit
Climbing
Genus

Ipomoea can be annuals or perennials, often twining, or evergreen shrubs, with simple, lobed or dissected leaves and tubular or funnel-shaped flowers which may be solitary or borne in racemes or panicles

Name status

Accepted

Advertise here

How to grow

Cultivation

Grow in well-drained, sandy loam in full sun, provide support for climbing stems. May be grown outdoors in warmer regions, but best grown under glass in colder areas. Optimum growing temperature is between 22-28°C. Ready to harvest after 90-110 days depending on conditions. See sweet-potato cultivation

Propagation

Propagate from slips (rooted shoots from a tuber); these can be potted and grown indoors in spring and planted out after frosts

Suggested planting locations and garden types
  • Climber and wall shrubs
  • Conservatory and greenhouse
Pruning

Minimal pruning required, see pruning group 11

Pests

May be susceptible to glasshoouse red spider mite and glasshouse whitefly

Diseases

May be susceptible to fusarium wilt, powdery mildews and virus diseases

Get involved

The Royal Horticultural Society is the UK’s leading gardening charity. We aim to enrich everyone’s life through plants, and make the UK a greener and more beautiful place.