Beaches are generally known for their abundant animal life, but many of the beautiful plants that grow there are often overlooked. One of my personal favorites are the blue beach morning glories (Ipomoea indica). I’m a sucker for morning glories anyhow, but I love the bright pops of purplish blue that line the beach edges where they grow. Like most morning glories they open widest as the sun comes up. When the sun gets brighter and the temperatures soar, they tend to close up and usually by mid afternoon they are completely closed. Unlike most other morning glories, the beach morning glories are capable of growing in very poor soil and can tolerate the high salinity of beach sand. These flowers were growing along the beach edges at Fort DeSoto State Park. On that beach there are a lot of shells and larger bits and pieces tend to eventually make their way up the beach away from the water. I would think that growing through all those shells would be very difficult, but the beach morning glories accomplish it very well. I’m not sure I will ever stop being surprised and impressed with natures adaptability to adapt to the most inhospitable conditions and still shine.