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From the end of July through August, morning glory exhibitions are held throughout the country. Will you watch them by getting up early? Pinching method This was begun in Nagoya. So as not to elongate a vine, we cut off its tip to shorten it. Then we can get a large flower into a pot. We appreciate the balance of the whole plant including the colors of both the flowers and the leaves. We use varieties of a yellow cicada leaf. Numerous flower-opening method This method was devised and prospered in Kyoto. This resembles the pinching method, in that we don't want the vine to grow long. We cut off the tip of the vine in order to get a number of opening flowers in one plant at a time. The appearance of more than 10 big flowers blooming at the same time in a pot is really wonderful. "Higo" method This is the method done in the old days in Higo (corresponding to Kumamoto prefecture). There is a severe rule as to the length of one main vine and in the position of the first flower. The flower is middle-sized, and the leaf is retracted.

Spiral method This is a method devised in Tokyo. In the center of a pot, we stand up one bamboo support and spiral a wire around it, with a hem spreading to the support. Then we wind the vine around the spiral wire. With this method, we can look at a flower well from outside, and it is easy to cultivate.

Five cuts enter at the periphery of a corolla and form as a flower of the plum tree.

These are plant examples produced by the spiral method. On the left is a large-flowered morning glory. It is a beautiful plant selected at an exhibition. On the right is a mutant morning glory. This flower is called a Dianthus-like flower. It is small and lovely.

The various methods have been completed to show the characteristics of the morning glory for a long time. Please try and devise techniques by yourself while learning such methods. A complicated flower of the mutant morning glory was produced to show various characteristics in one plant. Before Mendel published the law of heredity in 1865, the horticulturists of the Edo era could have already personally experienced it in raising the morning glory. It was in the 20th century when the Japanese morning glory was studied genetically, along with the silkworm, as one of the unique materials of Japan.

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