In full bloom at my house

Beautiful 😍

gardengus said:
In full bloom at my house

Cindy ~ Just lovely. What I remembered from childhood. And they smell SO good!

Here is a true perennial Mirabilis, hardy up to zone 4:

Mirabilis multiflora


It just started blooming July 8th; the plant is in a very sandy spot that I mulch with bark every spring. Very late to come up, but by August it is a 4' x 4' mound of flowers. I've read that its tuber is massive. I got this native plant originally from High Country Gardens, about 7-8 years ago.

https://www.highcountrygardens...

Was not aware of this hardy plant... Mirabilis nyctaginea

I might need one:)

EDIT: also noticed that seeds are available at

https://www.prairiemoon.com/mi...

they report that it is an easy germination. I have ordered seeds from them, good place.

Growing plants from seed is much more economical. Also the plants grown from seed acclimate better to your own environment than grown elsewhere.

Better root systems too, but I'm not sure that aspect is as critical for a tuber-forming plant.

Warning! Warning! Warning!

Mirabilis nyctaginea is NOT the same as Mirabilis multiflora!

Mirabilis nyctaginea is unbelievably easy from seed -- that's how I got it started here. It has been five years of steady weeding, and I still have not quite eliminated it. It self-seeds with abandon, and makes that deep big tuber/thick root that the family is known for. If you don't catch the seedlings early, you have to dig up that tuber or you'll never get rid of that plant. Yes, it blooms, but the flowers are smaller and not as showy as M. multiflora. It pops up in the lawn, on the edges of shady borders, through the sedums, under the pine trees...I am hoping that with two more weeding seasons, I will be able to eliminate it by 97% . It is not to be trifled with.

By comparison, in all of the years I've had M. multiflora, it has only produced one seedling.

Good to know. Apparently they are both call Wild 4 o'clocks.

I finally got a picture of the new 4 O'Clocks while open that I tried this year, Limelight. I found seeds at Select Seeds and every one of them germinated. I'm not sure yet if they just open later in the evening (I had to use flash, it was pretty dark out), or maybe these were just the first of them that opened. I love the foliage color though, even in the day when the flowers are closed up, they're very noticeable and stand out against that lime foliage.

And I forgot to get a sniff if they have any scent at all, tonight hopefully I'll remember.


This is during the day:

Wow ...those are bright

Very cheery, Nancy! I think i have those seeds in my stash. I have seen it at the nursery and the color combo stands out nicely.

A status update on my biggest plant. With milkweed & porterweed.

Here's one growing through our drought, still covered in blooms:

Love the rich color!

I love that deep pink color, both yours and Tiffany's look to be very similar, if not the same variety.

Me too, it seems electric, glowing like neon in the shade.

Lately, I can't detect any scent, at any time of day. That is weird because that plant used to have a pretty noticeable scent.

Big plant is about done for the year. It's top-heavy and going down, down, down. The trunk is even bigger than last year. If it was the only one, I would trim some on the heavy side but there are plenty of other copies around the yard.

This is looking straight down, it's resting by leaning on the part that is touching the ground now. The brick is nowhere near enough to keep it propped now.