Friday, June 23, 2006

Moon Flowers

These are pictures of my Moon Flower...the first two pictures were taken this afternoon. In the first picture you can see the white flower emerging from its green casing. There is also a long green flower bud in the picture.
This is the second flower and it is opened just a little bit more than the flower in the first picture. It's after 10:00 pm and two moon flowers are blooming. I measured them and they are 8 inches long...a rather big flower and you can smell them as you approach without even having to bend down. They have a wonderful scent.
Each flower only last one night and by morning they will close up and wither away. In this picture you can see several flower buds and they bloom continuously all summer...Just never in the daylight.

My SIL gave me the seeds and told me it was a vine, called a Moon Flower, but it grows like a small bushy plant and I haven't ever seen it vine. In her yard she had it growing up a fence on a trellis, and it did look like a vine. I really don't know what happened when I planted it, but it has come up for the last couple of years on its own and has never vined or attempted to vine.

We planted it right next to our front steps so that we won't miss it when it blooms. Last year the cats gave it a hard time playing with the flower pods or buds and we had shredded flowers. This year the cats are older and stay in the back yard...thank goodness!

30 comments:

Susie said...

Sandi,
This was so interesting!
I learn so much through blogging, as I have never heard nor seen a moon flower!
Thank you for sharing :-)

Ava said...

Very pretty plant! Nice evening shots too!!!! Don't they come in other colors as well? I'm not sure about that, but seems like they may.

Ava

The Four Bears in the Woods said...

This flower facinates me also. I had never seen or heard of one until you had this one. I just love it and have had the experience to see it in bloom at night. Very nice!

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...

Ava...I wasn't aware that they came in other colors, but that would be great! Mine are only white.

manababies said...

My knowledge of gardening is somewhat limited, plus our climate tends to limit our variety as well, but these are very neat flowers! Good thing to keep them where you won't miss them though. I can only imagine how huge they are.

Granny said...

They're beautiful. Do they have something to climb?

Kerri said...

Sandy, you've given us such a nice view of these fascinating flowers with your lovely photos! My craft show friend Chris, bought one last year and showed me the bloom. It was really small though because it was a first year plant. She had it too far away from the house and planned to move it closer. What a gorgeous flower!

Carole Burant said...

What an amazing flower!! I had never heard of it before...I now have a long list of flowers written down thanks to my blogging friends! lol Some flowers are just so fascinating, like this one!!

Peter said...

Hi June, that's a new one for me too, mind you being a non-gardener that's not hard.

Finn said...

What great pictures Sandy...I've only seen Moon Flowers in advertisements..how beautiful ! Their own special kind of mystery. I've heard of moon gardens, where all the flowers are white, and then really show up in moonlight..*VBS*

If you ever decide to do a crocheted rug, hollar. Darcie http://quiltingbydarcie.blogspot.com/ is showing hers. The hook is a K size, my book says J..but K would be bigger. Strips are 1.5" wide and off you go..I'm thinking about it..but would probably do a round or oval vs. the heart shape.

doubleknot said...

Gorgous flower. I have seen moon flowers before and they were always vines - you must have a spiecal touch to get your's to bush right next to the steps.
The flowers in your previous post are beautiful.
Have a nice weekend.

ICECAZ Productions said...

hey we stoped in to see you on our way to the lake on friday but we must haved missed you. it was fun we rode the bike and just took our time, and stoped when we wan'ted.

Anonymous said...

What interesting plants to bloom late at night!! I've never heard of moon flowers before. The night pictures are very pretty.

LZ Blogger said...

Sandy ~ How cool! I have never seen one of these Moon flowers before! ~ jb///

Hale McKay said...

Like LZ, I have never seen moon flowers before either. Great pictures of flowers on your site.

Merle said...

Hi Sandy ~~ Your flowers are beautiful
The water lilies are lovely on your water garden. I love the Moon Flower and
had something similar at another house I lived in. It was called a Daytura and he flowers hung down. Very fragrant and called Angel's Trumpet.Leaves were sort
of velvety. I loved it, but was told it was poisonous and caused allergy problems and so dug it out. I Love your and hope it is not the same. Thanks for saying Hi to Jan.
Take care, Merle.

Jeanette said...

I also have never heard of Moon flowers how interesting.and love the water lillies great photo's of them all.
thank you for your visit and comment .
i will return often and read some more take care . Jan

Anonymous said...

That is really pretty. I've never heard of the moon vine, so found this whole post real interesting. I'll check around locally to see if it grows here!

Loved the pond lillies as well. Our pond lillies aren't blooming this year and I really think it is just too hot in that area. I've got to figure out a way to get some filtered shade over the pond.

HORIZON said...

I had never heard of a Moon flower before now but will definitely be on the lookout for some seeds or tubers, depending. I love the Moon and would make this my favourite flower- sounds a bit corny but true.
Wonderful nighttime pictures.
Take Care

TJ said...

I have always heard of Moon Flowers but this is the first time to see them...how pretty are they?!!
Great pictures!!
:-D

Rachel said...

That is so pretty. I have not seen this one. I had a Ceres flower that blooms only at night and then the bloom was wilted the next day. But it got really huge and I had to bring it in during the winter so I let it go. Beautiful flowers though that opened about 10-11 p.m., very fragrant too.

Great pictures. So many blooms. Lovely.

Tanya said...

Your flowers are stunning.

Great shots!!

Hunter said...

What beautiful flowers. Thank you for sharing.

Darilyn

Val said...

That moon flower is fabulous. It looks like yours are in sunlight, but I'm wondering if they would also do ok in the shade. Afterall, they bloom at night! Our garden doesn't get much sun because of large trees or because the pool is in the sunniest spot, so we're always trying to find things that flower in shady spots.

Tim Rice said...

Ah, your moon flowers are wonderful. Great pics.

... Paige said...

I love it, you have such a lovely selection of flowers & the folliage is beautiful too.

Anonymous said...

very pretty...I like them

somershade said...

I saw where Alison and zac stopped in to see ya,sorry you were missed.Zac is officailly moveing into his condo tommorrow and I'm starting my new job all on the same day!.
Cool flowers

bornfool said...

Never heard of a moon flower. That is really cool. Beautiful, too.

TUFFENUF said...

I was telling a friend about your beautiful moom flower and he said that they are poisonous! Is this true? I don't know much about it, but if it is poisonous, be careful!