Thursday, September 20, 2018

It Takes Some Effort

Every year I start with small seed pots and soak the hard white seed overnight in a wet towel in a ziplock and then headstart this plant.  Every year I plant this plant in pots on my deck. Every year I have to get them out when the nights are still cool because they need a long growing season and only really take off when the days and nights are warm. Not all of the seeds are viable or easy to germinate.  It is a tropical plant, of course. A friend of mine in Florida wondered if I could send her seeds and I research the plant and found it was classified as an invasive in Florida!






This plant only blooms at night! I have seen tiny ants, small flies, etc. that come in to pollinate.  It is probably pollinated by a night moth in its native home (Argentina to Mexico).   We had a wonderful hot and wet summer and this plant loved it.  It starts real blooms when 12 hour days begin much like our Chrysanthemum.


In the photo above I had to turn on the deck light to capture the detail. It is Ipomoea alba or a "tropical white morning glory."


Now the best part is that it has the most gentle, angelic, exotic fragrance. For those who live in a tropical climate, this may not sound like much, but for those of us who reside where fragrant flowers are iris, phlox and the rare rose, this is so dreamlike and a special reward.


They are only elegant for one night.  By the sun's early light they wilt like wet Kleenex.   They are agressive when in a large well fertilized pot.  The plant below was on its way down the deck to wrap around the kayak.


12 comments:

  1. That's a lot of work for one night, glad you captured it.

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  2. Joeh, they do bloom for many nights...new blossoms that only last the night they open.

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  3. Beautiful. I thought they're called Moon Flowers. I tried to grow them from seed one year. Nothing sprouted.

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  4. You need to sleep on the deck to take advantage of the brief window of opportunity to see it.

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  5. Beautiful photography the petals of the flower look like satin. Great lighting!

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  6. moonflower! one of my favorites though I have only grown it once or twice. I'll have to get some seeds for next year.

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  7. Have seen this plant in the past.
    Any chance you could send me a few seeds.

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  8. I thought it looked like a Morning Glory. Nice pics!
    Glad your hard work paid off, n you had time to enjoy them!

    Read your 2005 flood story on your other blog. Amazing how far you've come from that time!

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  9. Oh, wow! So cool! I have heard of other highly fragrant night blooming plants, some that only bloom one night a year This morning glory is wonderful, with new blooms every night.
    Thanks for showing it to us.

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  10. Lovely! I recall a night blooming cactus we discovered at our house in Arizona with the bloom gone by noon the next day. Your Morning Glory is truly special.

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  11. You are a true ecologist.

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  12. Morning glories were banned here when my kids were in High School. They are hallucinogenic, and the city announced that too many kids were using it to get high. One of mine got in real trouble.

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