Pink four-o-clock flowers have been growing crazily and happily around the front and back yards this summer. These are among the late bloomers. The flowers open up in the afternoon, hence the name. Supposedly they stay open through the night.
Four-o-clock flowers are annuals. They're also called the Marvel of Peru, where the lovely flowers originated in the Andes Mountains. Four-o-clock flower and Marvel of Peru are both very pretty names. So is it's technical name—Mirabilis jalapa.
They showed up a couple of years ago in the front yard, near the sidewalk, just on our side of the property line. Mama saved the seeds from last year's blooms and threw them along the fence in the back and north side of the house. I tossed them in the lawn, but nothing came up. Weeds did, so maybe I threw some other seeds. I won't get it wrong for next year. The Mama has a large bucket full of seeds already, and I collected my own small bucket of seeds to toss around. We shall see what happens next year.
I think you can grow these Birgit. Sprinkle the seeds where you want and let them do their thing. I haven't been giving them much water and they are flourishing.
ReplyDeleteI reckon when it's time for the Mama to ... you know ... she'll just morph into Mother Earth
ReplyDeleteThat's a pleasant thought, though she plans on being buried in a rigid casket. I shall be cremated and used as fertilizer. :-)
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