Four O'Clock Flower
(aka Marvel of Peru)
Mirabilis jalapa
Four O'Clock Flowers are bushy plants that boast large volumes of brightly colored afternoon flowers throughout the summer.
Mirabilis jalapa has done great as an annual in our temperate garden (zone 5b), producing tons of bright magenta flowers throughout much of the summer with minimal care and only five or six hours of daily sun.
These plants come in a variety of colors, often having multi-colored blooms, and even have multiple colors of bloom on the same plant. Ours, however, have thus far been consistently bring pink.
The common name, "four o-clock flower," comes from the fact that the blossoms open in late afternoon. They're open throughout the night and usually well into the next morning (but don't expect to have them join you for lunch).
The plants have bold foliage on branching shoots. The stems are thick, but we've still had issues with them falling over, especially after a good rain. We tend to prop them up with steaks, but you can also leave them to grow prostrate; the stems will likely take root where nodes touch the soil.
Our four o'clocks haven't had any issues with pests, and that's uncommon in our gardens. Most of our plants are browsed heavily by local rodents, but the four o'clocks appear totally untouched.
In warmer clients (which is where they originate), these are perennials but are more commonly grown as annuals in temperate regions.
Our four o-clocks have also been prolific fruiters, producing hard black seeds about the size of a pea that sits freely when ripe in a little bract cup. These seeds start out yellowish-green with the bracts closed around them. As they ripen, the bracts being to open and the seed begins to change to black. By the time the seed is all black and sitting unattached inside the cup, it should be ready to collect.
From six plants taking up maybe three square feet of garden space, we've collected easily several hundred seeds in a single season, with plenty more left on the plant. These plants came from seeds collected from a single plant the previous season; so far they have sprouted easily and reliably in both seed starter and ordinary potting soil, with no special handling like stratifying or scarifying.
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