Sweetheart Red Sweet Potato Vine

Sweetheart Red is an ornamental sweet potato vine identified botanically as Ipomoea batatas 'Sweet Caroline Sweetheart Red'. It forms a moderately compact, oval mound of dense, heart-shaped foliage that matures from yellow-green to red-purple and red-bronze. ## Foliage and form The [patent description](https://patents.google.com/patent/USPP19013P3/en) records 17 cm height and 44 × 54 cm spread for 11-week specimens. It describes freely branching growth, many shoots, and a moderately compact form. Its dense leaves are heart-shaped to slightly lobed, and the plant is adaptable to container culture. ## Flowers Flowering is rare even under short-day conditions. When produced, the corolla is pale lavender, with lavender and purple throat colors; the source does not establish a regular bloom season. ## Siting and uses At species level, [NC State Extension guidance](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/ipomoea-batatas/) describes sweet potato vine as an annual ground cover or vine for full sun or partial shade, in loamy, well-drained soil with organic matter. Ornamental cultivars are used in mixed containers and garden plantings. In mild-winter areas, the named cultivar may grow as a perennial; elsewhere it is grown as an annual. ## Maintenance Allow room for the dense shoots or place the plant where foliage can spill from containers. In cold-winter climates, plant after frost danger has passed.