belle de nuit

[peanuts]

Bizarre - this particular photo of lots of them on paper is in my Photobucket album but when I try to post it here, it says it has been removed/deleted, but it is there . . . . .  I'll try this once more, then will have to leave it till this evening.  I'll also reply to  various questions about belle de nuit later  today.  No time now!

[peanuts]

[Squash64]

They are beautiful - I think they are Mirabilis (because in Italian they call them 'Bella di Notte')
I've grown them before from seed as a half-hardy annual.

[grannyjanny]

When I saw the flower I thought they were mirabilis AKA the 4 o'clock plant ;D.

[BarriedaleNick]

realising that that means that they disappear from this site too, don't see why they should though.

When you post the images here from photobucket you are merely linking to those images - you are not publishing new copies of them here.  If you delete the images on P
B then the links to those images will no longer work.

[saddad]

Even if you move the image within Photobucket... say into a different folder it will break the link... the link remains to "where it was" not where it is now...  :-X

[pumkinlover]

They look lovely!  ;D

[Aden Roller]

They still look great here. Hope everyone else can see them too?

[bobby45]

I used to have some of these in my garden when I lived in South Africa. They grew wild in some areas near by , mine were a purplish colour still with streaks etc.I don't know the name of them over there but will find out when we visit the kids at christmas.I will try and see if I can get some seeds to bring back. ;D
Bobby45

[grannyjanny]

I'm sure when I grew them they were from tubers.

[Obelixx]

The botanical name is mirabilis jalapa.  It's from Mexico and Peru and thereabouts and is not hardy but is perennial if kept frost free.  Its British common name is the 4 o' clock plant.

[peanuts]

I'm now trying again to get this photo to be visible!  Fingers crossed.

[peanuts]

Hooray it has worked now, so the photo of lots of flowers on an A4 sheet of paper is visible.  The flowers are about 5cms across, and the plants grow to  3 or 4ft high.
For the last three years I have collected seeds (very easy as they are large, black, and loose so easy to pick off the plant.  But they also will grow up again the following year from the old roots.  They die down completely in the winter, and are quite late to appear, perhaps in May.  But to make sure I don't lose them I always start some new plants from the seeds.  Easy to germinate indoors in pots.  Then I grow them on.  They are surprisingly late to get to flowering stage, mid-August usually.  Perhaps that is why I think it is difficult to be successful with them in UK.  Not usually hot enough (except this year and this Sept/Oct) for them to grow enough to produce flowers, and then to produce seeds.
My niece who is staying with us at the moment is going to try growing one on her south-facing flat balcony in London.  It might work there.

For the first time this year a lot of new plants came from self-sown seeds.  Don't know why this should happen,  presumably to do with the winter/spring temperatures /

I don't know about tubers underneath. I'll be able to tell you soon, as  I' m intending to lift all the old plants this autumn, and start again next year, as some of them are reverting to being just red flowers and I want to preserve the two colours.

What amazes us is the way the flowers are all so different.  Even on the same shoot there will be a complete mix of all possibilities.  How does this happen?  I'm absolutely no flower expert, but to me a plant usually produces similar flowers,  just better or poorer quality perhaps. How so these produce so widely differing designs? Can anyone explain in simple terms?

[brown thumb]

how pretty love the colours

[peanuts]

This is the bed where most of them grow.  It's the sort of bed I can cope with, just bulbs in the spring, and then   all these come up on their own and look after themselves, apart from a bit of dead-heading of the dahlias.

[peanuts]

You are right, Grannyjanny, these belle de nuit do grow from tubers! I've found out the hard way by trying to lift them unaided, then had to enlist help,as there was no way I could get them up.  They  tubers are black and the size of parsnips!  Some went down at least 18ins.
I hope I won't regret deciding to  lift them all and start again with newly saved seed from this year.  Several of them were reverting to plain pink flowers, and I thought that might happen with most of them, so out they've all come, well nearly all of them.  Shame is that amongst them are crocus and tulip bulbs, but they'll probably cope, and it has given me the opportunity to plant more daffodil bulbs as well.
Peanuts

[antipodes]

I grow them, or rather they grow themselves. Sow in May, they come up late and are the last ones to flower usually. Not freeze hardy but they self seed readily and come back each year in more or less the same place. I like them for the splash of colour they make. Those multi coloured ones of yours are beaut!

[Lishka]

I've just come across this thread and it gave me a trip down Memory Lane, must say. I lived in Italy and, like Betty, only remember the Italian translation 'bella di notte' - a must-have for my container planting on the terraces. I remember the large easy-to-handle seeds but had no idea that they would form tubers. Wonderful array of diverse flowers from a single plant.(how does that happen, anyone know?) A staple annual favourite.

Thanks SO much for the revival of memories  8) :)

Lishka X

[GrannieAnnie]

What is their fragrance similar to in your opinion?
I've never grown them but might give them a whirl next year.
Burpee site says they are fragrant.
Your photo reminds me of crepe paper- so bright with well defined markings.

[peanuts]

GrannieAnnie
What is their fragrance similar to in your opinion?
That's a really good question. I know they have a nice fragrance, but your question sent me out this morning to  sniff . . . . and sniff . . . . and then pick one and bring it indoors.  YOu know, it is really difficult to identify a scent out of context, and to compare it when it is on its own!  if I had a row of flowers, eg hyacinth, old English rose, carnation, then i could tell them and tell the difference.  But grasping the scent of one flower on its own is quite a challenge.  In the end we decided that is is most like a delicate hyacinth scent.  Hope that helps!
Peanuts

[Aden Roller]

Nothing much to do with belle de nuit but the talk of capturing and describing a scent made me think of yesterday on the plot........

I trimmed the two big red rose bushes and picked the last rose. I had my nose stuck in it for ages hoping I would remember the scent through to the next time it blooms. Cream, soft, heady, velvety sweetness..
How can anyone describe a flower's scent when there's almost nothing to compare.
Gorgeous!