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"Leading Mother to our old-fashioned well, I told her the legend of the maiden who went to a well to draw water and, finding a morning glory tendril twined about the handle of the bucket, went away rather than break the tender vine. She planted the seeds around the well curb while I softly hummed, over and over, the old poem: 'The morning glory tendril has chained my heart. Let it be: I'll beg water of my neighbor.' "
From "A Daughter of the Samurai" by Etsu Inagaki Sugimoto ( Charles E. Tuttle)
Tender morning glories, or "morning faces" as they are known in Japanese, are a refreshing sight as they open early on summer mornings before fading in the heat of the day. The round, green seed pods are attractive too, with dainty russet stripes.