A plant that only grows for one season and is not completely hardy i.e. if it gets frosted it will die!

as moon grower says, I usually plant mine out when all danger of frosts have gone.end of May early June here in east yorkshire.

If you want to get a couple of weeks extra for morning glories, I start mine inside with a heated mat, and then a few days after it comes up (this is the tricky part since the root grows real fast) I have a support stake already in place and transplant it right next to the stake. Then I put a clear plastic jug with the bottom cut out over the stake and around the plant. This protects the plant from some cold, from the wind, and my cats. As soon as it reaches the top (I use gallon fruit juice bottles I save all year and my neighbor gives 2 liter soda bottles) I remove the bottle and the plant is stong enough to survive. I also use this method for tomatos.

Wonder if it will work as well in the UK? Thoughts Wylie...

It should. Our warmer weather starts mid-April, but there is wind and a few cool nights, so I was thinking that surely I could get a second use out of plastic bottles and came up with this. This year I plan to put the stakes in a triangle for the morning glories and cross-poles to hang baskets with cherry tomatos.

We used this method years ago with bell glasses, using small ones and finishing with bigger ones, as conditions in the area were unpredictable i.e. snow in June. Now you have plastic bottles it is easy to select the different sizes and if the subjects you are growing are sown in jiffy pots or similar there is no root disturbance and you can grow more than one plant per pot to avoid failure.

Should work fine in England then but not most of Scotland... certainly not where we are!

It can work M G and the expense and work is rewarded in the long run. Start warming your outside ground now, or as soon as it thaws out.

Dr Bob we have at least 8 inches of snow over all the garden! With the Met Office promising us more right through to the middle of January. Our priority once we can actually get onto the garden, which will not be for weeks yet, is to get the 6 metre veggie tunnel up so we can start warming that bit of ground for veggie seed sowing.
We grow no annual flowers at all, alpines, rock garden and woodland plants, bulbs, shrubs and trees. Our friends who do grow annuals start them off in greenhouses and even then can't plant them out until end of May, too much risk of frost, though, to be honest, we can have a frost any month of the year.

Yes Carol, I do appreciate all of that. The only month in which Wisley has not recorded a frost is July. The best time for bedding out here is June, the growers love people who bed out in April as most of it is ruined by frosts and has to be replaced. The very strong winds you have are your worst enemy with a low chill factor. I missed the chance of making a heated frame early. I hope to do a blog later on that subject.

I haven't had any luck with the Jiffy pots. They invite fungus and mold, and they dry out too quickly. I even tried putting them in the oven to try and sterilize them, without luck. Much better with a seed tray with deep sections for pumpkins, sunflowers, morning glories, etc. You just have to be able to transplant and protect quickly.