Moonflower: White Ipomoea Also Known as Evening Glory
[Did they have to make that botanical name so hard to pronounce?]
I am a cheap thrill. It doesn't take much to excite me when it comes to beautiful flowers. So the story goes like this. I was walking for exercise in the subdivision next to ours one evening when I came upon a house that had a huge vine climbing all over their brick mailbox structure. The vine had HUGE white fragrant flowers all over it. The sight was just heavenly. I had never seen any vine like that. When I got home I told my husband about the flowering vine that was so fabulous. I said he had to walk up there and look at it -- that he would be amazed. Well, he wasn't as thrilled as I was to leave his TV cop shows and walk up and look at somebody's mailbox. Okay - he wasn't kicking and screaming, but just about. I drug him up there a bit reluctantly. He thought it was pretty cool. I went home and Googled big white fragrant flower and finally found out what it was. It was an annual that you had to plant from seed. It also said that it helps if you scratch the shell of the seed with a sharp object and soak them in water before planting them.
I found the seed packets in the garden center about six weeks late this spring but decided to plant them anyway. I planted five seeds near the arbor where I put my hanging baskets. The packet says the seed origin is Holland.
After a week all five of my seeds came up and started crawling up the arbor. It takes another 60-90 days before the first flower arrives.
Woah! Here she is. I am thrilled. My first Moonflower. Oh, by the way, I forgot to tell you that they bloom at night. And the flower is all done with its lifecycle before noon the next day. How sad.
The leaves are sort of heart shaped. Planted in full sun the vine climbs very fast. I grew up in a household where my Mom was a big gardener but she did not grow these so I discovered them late in life.
Above is the first bloom at the bottom of the vine. My husband came inside from watering a few days ago and said there was some sweet smell in the air outside that he couldn't figure out what it was -- like a neighbor burning candles. I ran outside and sure enough the flower was there. The bud is pretty also as it is tightly swirled and then when evening comes it slowly unfurls.
Here is tonight's flower at the very top of the arbor. Since it is facing upwards I can't get a photo of the face. I think you can see the tight swirled buds next to the flower.
From now until frost I will have a lot more thrills. Hummmmm, next year -- I wonder how many vines a woman can have.
Have a lovely weekend.
Summer
Photos: Swede
