Night-blooming plants in my garden

I’ve not had the time to blog enough here as I like, and have not had the creative streak that enabled me to begin this blog in the first place so I may take a little leave after this post to recollect my thoughts.

Anyhow, the night-blooming plants in my container garden include Brugmansia sp., Brunfelsia gigantea, Cestrum nocturnum, Epiphyllum oxpetalum ‘Mark Twain’, and Hylocereus undatus. While it is nearly impossible to get them to all bloom together, the Brunfelsia and Cestrum fragrances often commingle, and while I’m still waiting for my Brugmansia to open that one shall surely add a sinister note to the overwhelming musky perfume of my night blooming garden! When my night-blooming cacti bloom, Epiphyllum oxpetalum is the one with the more powerful fragrance, and it disperses this fragrance much more freely than did Hylocereus undatus. Night blooming flowers truly are a magical thing!

I promise I didn’t time this on purpose!

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Hylocereus undatus.

I promise I did not time this on purpose, but last night, my Dragonfruit cactus bloomed! Dragonfruits are native to Mexico and Central America in dry monsoonal forests. I happened to have one in my collection of plants that bloomed last night- again I promise I did not time this on purpose!

They are not as fragrant as the other flowering cacti in the genus, but have a similar, albeit faint mustiness characteristic of night-blooming cacti. The picture below is for reference to the size of the flower. As you can see, it is as large as my head! Hopefully soon, this bat-pollinated flower will produce a dragonfruit- an exotic fruit with a flavor between watermelon and kiwi!

Moonflower

Ipomoea alba. http://www.joenesgarden.com.

No flower is perhaps so striking by moonlight as the moonflower.  What is otherwise a rather unscrupulous vine by day suddenly becomes the focus of nature’s attention, for as moonlight hits the plant, little moons suddenly appear from the otherwise gangly vine, beckoning moths from miles around to drink its magical elixir. Moonflower is not shy about its night display, and tens if not hundreds of flowers will glow with the moonlight on a large vine. This plant is steeped in magic, and certainly fairies will gather to frolic around the flowers when prying eyes are no longer awake to ruin their night dance.

Indeed many poems could be written about the magical display of the moonflower, not only for its look but also its scent. Moonflower is also steeped in mystique for gardeners, for it is unfortunately rather short lived outside the tropics. Moonflower is an unfortunate annual in areas of freeze, and may only bloom for a few weeks in most places before this un-comely event occurs. Moonflower also only blooms at equatorial day lengths (i.e. it only blooms when days are 12 hours or less) further making its anticipated debut almost too late to enjoy for so many.

This relative of the Morning glory family is native to the Central and South American tropics, and can grow to eventually be a twinning vine up to one hundred feet tall, with heart-shaped leaves. The real show is in the night-blooming flowers, which begin as tightly wound buds that have a most interesting spiral shape, that open to large, six inch flowers. The corolla is white, but with yellowish star-like veins. The scent is not one that is easily spread through the night garden like many others, but is quite like the scent of Brunfelsia gigantea, although lighter in essence and with a lemony-flair. Its a very delicate scent that I love, even if it is so short-lived.

Growing these vines is easily done from seed, but the vine does not transplant well. Seeds ought to be sown directly in the garden, after having been soaked overnight in warm water and nicked with a knife prior to sowing. The vine is slow to grow as well, needing warm soil temperatures and warm weather to grow quickly; but given a large trellis or support, it will grow almost a foot a day in the middle of the summer! Lastly, buds will only appear near the equinox, and flowering is most done in late September and early October. For the southern garden and well-protected Northern garden, this is a month or less of display before an unfortunate frost-nip, but the small bloom window is well worth a summer of growth if just for the scent of a moonflower under the bright autumn moon.

 

 

Brunfelsia

Brunfelsia americana. toptropicals.com.

If one corner of the world holds more night-blooming shrubs than any other, it is certainly the Caribbean and Central American realm. It is from this region that many of the cultivated night-blooming shrubs come from, including Brunfelsias, also known as raintree. The Brunfelsias are native to the Western Caribbean and Central America down to the Amazon. The genus is known for its white or purplish, long-tubed flowers (pollinated by moths) that are quite eerily fragrant by night.

Like many night-flowering plants, Brunfelsias feature a nice clove-like scent, but adds several layers to it in doing so. Truth be told, the fragrances are different per species but have an overall fragrance that seems to combine a light musk perfume essence with clove. I have since come to realize the night scent I remember on a family vacation years ago to St. Croix was a mixture of Brunfelsia americana and Cestrum nocturnum, and no doubt a mixture of night fragrances with these two inundates many Caribbean and Central American forests.

Most well known to the horticultural world is B. nitida from Central America, which truth-be-told is one of the hardest to grow in containers. It has a typically clove scent and grows best in the outdoor climate that can endure it, as opposed to a greenhouse. Very similar, and easier to grow indoors is B. americana, which is more floriferous, but one of the least attractive ones of the family.

Brunfelsia gigantea. toptropicals.com

B. gigantea is probably the most aesthetically-pleasing member of the family with the largest flowers (about 5 inches long) and porcelain-white flowers that maintain their scent through the morning and in early evening. Even when not in flower, the leaves are a solid addition, being a dark forest green with hardly any problems from insects. This variety tends to grow faster than the others as well. The scent is more musky than the others and lighter on the clove, but it is most certainly a well-pleasing fragrance on a humid evening.

B. jamaicensis from Jamaica is another commonly grown one, with a form very similar to B. americana but with more ruffled flowers. Jamaican raintree is easier to grow than B. americana, but less floriferous. The fragrance is said to be fruitier than the others, probably due to its natural range being up in the mountains, so as to also attract bats.

There are countless other fragrant species, but the one most known of the family B. grandiflora (yesterday-today-tomorrow) is not fragrant. Many endemic species are better known to their native environment, all with a familiar hauntingly fragrance of night.

Night-Fragrant Annuals pt 1. Petunia and Stocks

Petunia ‘Dreams White’. http://www.parkswholesaleplants.com

While many of the fragrant annuals grown are most know for their fragrance during the day, a few are particularly know for their night fragrance. Petunias have the luck of being fragrant both at night and day, but the fragrances are completely different between the two. The purple petunias of day have a nice warm fragrance, almost like daylilies, but with a sinister kick that resides in all solanaceous plants; But at night, this fragrance is akin more to clove. This fragrance is so pervasive that entire garden centers and lawns at evening are reminiscent of fine clove wherever they are grown in abundance! The white petunias are freest with the clove fragrance, all others less free and with a bit more floral in them.Petunias are easily the most well-known and widely grown fragrant annual of the night, and its clove-scent pierces its  surroundings, even on dark, cloudy days, and in a way that would make pure night-fragrant plants jealous.

Petunias are widespread and easily grown as an annual, and the wave series surely adorns every hanging basket in the Eastern United States! Petunias require little, except well-drained soil, full sun, and plenty of fertilizer. They also require deadheading for a true all-summer display. Who would have ever thought, a dowdy tobacco relative from South America would be brought from obscurity to be such a popular garden plant? Well, too many relatives of them have been to be honest…but that’s beside the point.

Other widely grown petunias besides the wave series have been supertunias, multifloras and grandifloras, but each hybrid has its own perk. Related Calibrachoa, although similar in look, have little to no fragrance in them.

Matthiola longipetala. 6, December, 2006. Al-Bargit. Wikimedia Commons.

Another commonly grown night-blooming (or at least night-fragrant) annual is stocks. Stocks are best known as fillers in cut-flower arrangements, where both day and night-fragrant species are used. Stocks are Mustard family relatives, native to the Northern Hemisphere, and grown outdoors in cool gardens in the Northern European and Northern American reaches. Otherwise, they are grown as short annuals in early spring or early to late fall in warmer climates.

M. incana and M. longipetala are the species best represented in the garden and as cut flowers. M. incana hybrids are known for having double flowers, but the true to type species and the one that survives and reproduces is the single. These are better cut flowers, and are fragrant during the day as well. The single species is mostly white-flowered. M. longipetala is a better garden plant, but is true to type in being evening and night-fragrant only. The flowers of these are purplish, and appear wilted in strong sunlight. M. longipetala also tends to bloom for a longer period than the ’10-weeks stock’ M. incana. Both feature a nice, clove-like, sweet fragrance at evening, strongly reminiscent of pinks and carnations.

 

Lilies pt. 3- Night-Fragrant Lilies

Lilium nepalense. http://davesgarden.com.

Lilium regale. 2007. Epibase. Wikimedia Commons.

Last in my detail of fragrant lilies are those that are only or moreso fragrant at night. The lilies in question are most fragrant or solely fragrant at night. In a sense, most lilies are more fragrant at night, but L. regale and L. nepalense are more impressive than the rest in the olfactory department, and provide a good segway into my next series of posts about night fragrant plants.

I cannot attest to having sampled L. nepalense, because it does not easily grow in Kentucky, but it is a solely night fragrant plant, and heavily so. This lily is native to the Himalayas and prefers cool and moist climates (something this area is not!) These lilies are also very different from all detailed so far in that they are stoloniferous as opposed to bulbous, and have a very unique color scheme, being green on the outside of the petal and reddish-chocolate colored on the inside. These lilies grow well in coastal California and the Pacific Northwest above zone 8, otherwise are cool-greenhouse plants.

Next is L. regale, the regal lily from China. This is a more typical lily of the family, although growing up to seven feet, with beautiful six inch flowers in white (outside petals purplish) with yellow throats. While these lilies are day fragrant, they increase at night, giving their wonderfully sweet, musky scent to the night garden (they are in the same clan as Easter lilies if that gives an indication of the fragrance.) L. regale is also one of the easiest lilies to grow in the garden, and the University of Kentucky arboretum has a few in its inner garden areas. Because these lilies are rather large, they do require staking, but are bound to be any fragrant gardener’s best friend otherwise!

Many more lily posts could be made than the three I have, but again, this is a genus that I frankly am not prepared to handle as there are so many single cultivars and hybrids that are wonderfully fragrant. Luckily, lilies are going nowhere, and many more wonderful hybrids await to be made in the gardening world! Starting next are night-fragrant flowers in my sad attempt to keep up with Tovah Martin’s The Essence of Paradise selection for July. Gardeners beware, the intense fragrance that awaits the night air.

Lilies pt.2- Asian Specimen Lilies

Lilium auratum. A.D. Dyachenko. http://www.botansad.com.ua

Lilium speciosum. http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com.

The best known lilies used in making hybrids are undoubtedly Asian species. Two of the best lilies that have been used in hybridizing are the goldband lily (L. auratum) and Japanese lily (L. speciosum)  of Japan. While others have certainly been used in the great variety of hybrids, these two are used to make many of the Oriental hybrid crosses, particular the one that brought ‘Stargazer’ to the gardening world. While there are many stargazer lilies on the market (so called because the lilies used in the crosses left the hybrids with a tendency to flower facing up at the sky) the resemblance with L. speciosum is uncanny for good reason.

The goldband lily of Japan is a beautiful lily of its own accord, sporting a bright gold band in the middle of each petal and brown spots (related var. platyphyllum lacks the brown spots.) The petals gently curl as well and are very large for the species. This is one of the taller and more floriferous lilies, growing to eight feet tall and containing as many as twenty flowers at a time! This is a midsummer bloomer with a strong lily scent (it lends this scent to the benchmark Oriental hybrid scent.)

The Japanese lily blooms later than many others (in August and September) but this lily in particular is the parent most responsible for the beloved Oriental hybrids. This lily is native to the mountains in central Japan, and grows up to about four feet tall. Not as floriferous or large as the goldband lily, it is white to pink in color, and wonderfully scented as well. The standard form is more floriferous than the hybrids, but with smaller flowers and less fragrance.

Lilium ‘Stargazer‘. 20 May 2006. Skarg. Wikimedia Commons.

As said before, these two species are responsible for the most part for ‘Stargazer,’ and its coloration and form is the tale of the hybridization. Its flower is a brilliant pink with noticeable darker bands running along the middle of the petals and spots, like its parent in L. speciosum; but its upright form and flowering period is similar to L. auratum. Stargazers tend to grow to be between four and five feet tall, with 5-6 flowers on the stalk.They are the easiest lily bulbs to grow in the garden, requiring well-drained acidic soil, and are hardy from zones 5-9. I daresay no garden should be complete without one

The stargazer fragrance is the benchmark I use in comparing other lilies. Its warm, sweet, and musky. The scent seems to combine Jasmine, lemon, and Asian Magnolia with a definite musk undertone. Its a sultry scent perfect for summer that makes its presence known in a room! What else can be said of the lily fragrance aside from magnificent? Now if only they can make new hybrids without the stamens all would be perfect (the pollen on the stamens is horribly staining and deathly toxic to cats.)

Lilies pt. 1- Madonna Lily

Lilium candidum. Maciek Godlewski. 20 june 2007. Wikimedia Commons.

I can hardly think of any non-hybrid lily as famous as the Madonna Lily. It is the quintessential garden lily for many parts of the Mediterranean world, and one of the most famous bulbs of the gardening world. This lily is named after the Madonna, the Virgin Mary, for its pure white blooms.  Pious Catholics in the Mediterranean region gave this particular its semblance long ago, and it has since donned many a portrait and icon with the Virgin.

Like many lilies, it is a tall, straggling looking plant, crowned with five to six flowers white flowers with yellow throats on top of its stalk. Unlike many lilies, this one tends to bloom early, in late spring (May-June) and goes into a summer dormancy afterwards. This makes sense for a bulbed plant from the drier parts of the Mediterranean world (it is native from the Balkans to the Levant). Unlike other lilies, it is susceptible to disease and must have well-draining soil to be more resistant to these diseases. In more humid regions I have yet to see it grow more than a few years for this reason, and is best grown in drier climates. This lily is also not as cold hardy as many hybrids, further reducing its range.

The Madonna lily has a fragrance more similar to Easter lilies than the hybrids, but is muskier than either. It shares a warmth with the hybrids, but a depth like the Easter lily, and is a favorite of many. However, the musk can get carried away, rarely in a garden, but commonly in a warm and humid room. The musk comes on full strong and tends to wind up in the kitty litter direction without good ventilation. However, in the garden it is lovely as always where it will grow.

 

 

Introduction to Lilies

Lilium ‘Stargazer’. http://www.extension.iastate.edu.

No bulbing plant can be as loved or as widely planted as lilies. From Easter lilies to Madonnas, Stargazers to Turks Caps- lilies are the most universal bulb in the Northern Hemisphere. Lilies can endure chilling freeze to subtropical heat, drought to deluge, and only sometimes complain at soil types.

Lilies are as quintessential to summer as heat and humidity. Their fragrance adds a warm musk to humid nights when grown in the garden, and an overwhelming perfume when grown in abundance. The scents in lilies span the range from ambrosial to rankish, but almost always have a similar sweetness that announces its presence in the Lily family. Some add a spicy component, others musky, others still a clean linen scent; but in any case its something I cannot get enough of.

One whiff of stargazers from the time I was a kid introduced me to lilies, and I knew my love for them would never cease. I have since found that even stargazers pale to others in the family, but there are so many hybrids to choose from, I scarcely know which particular cultivar they even are!

In any case, lilies are the Northern Hemisphere’s golden flower child, but are instilled and implanted in gardens the world over. There are eight main divisions, and ninth of wild lilies that have not been hybridized. These eight divisions are: Asiatics (many scentless); Martagon, with nodding flowers; Candidum (Madonna Lilies and other Europeans); American hybrids; Longiflorum, including Easter lilies; Trumpet lilies (more fragrant at night); Orientals, that give us the main garden cultivated lilies for color and fragrance; and lastly a category of other hybrids called Division 8. Lilies from there can be subdivided by flower position and form.

Lilies are also popular as cut flowers, and many Stargazer corsages are present for dances and weddings. A greenhouse bathed in the scent of lilies is worth experiencing once. What is not to love about the color, form and fragrance of the lily? Even the most pickiest of noses can certainly find one love in a lily.

July

July is another month of gardening delight, although this one is subtle compared to the previous ones. July starts the wind down in the gardening world, but has some heavy hitters as well. For the Southern gardener, July is a time for night-bloomers, as the day is much too hot to endure. Days of sweltering humidity and unbearable heat leave humans scrambling for AC and critters scrambling for water holes. Even the plants take notice as many of the flowers once so abundant begin to wane. Magnolias are dwindling from the star debut in spring, gardenias are long passed, and the only thing that holds strong seems to be the crepe myrtle! But this is the world of the day, the world of the night brings its own eerie sweetness, as flowering tobacco, wild daturas, night jasmine, and where the climate can endure- Spanish jasmine all being their own calling to nocturnal rendezvous. The tropics have a way of dealing with summer that the Northern reaches just cannot, as the cooler evening becomes its own nocturnal affair.

For the Northern Gardener, July is perennial season. Phlox, lavender, tickseeds, and bergamot all bring their own garden delights; daylillies still go strong, and bulbed lillies finally begin to impress the most ardent of noses. Annuals are taking off too, as Marigolds, petunias, even the rare scented begonias all take advantage of the summer sun and heat to impress the nose. Lets not forget about summer shrubs either, as everblooming roses and the hardy American hydrangeas are all scenting the yards of well-to-do gardens; boxwoods pour fourth their rancorous scent in the sunshine, and the long awaited summersweets begin to shed their fragrance over entire neighborhoods in the North. 

I honestly think my Kentucky home has the best garden situation of July, able to embrace both worlds with ease. There is nothing like sitting under the heavy humid air with blooming petunias for the fireworks on the 4th. No words can describe the sticky summer air with its own redolence. Summer is here, as the long hot days kick in and the moisture wheel of spring comes to a close. The cicadas buzz, calling forth a symphony of sound for the day, and the katydids for the night. No month is like July, as the warm summer nights can only be best made aware in this month.

July almost seems too fleeting to enjoy, as the celebration of the forth quickly is proceeded by the last days it seems. Summer is at its maximum, ready to reach the tipping point in August. The race has begun, enjoy the long days while they still remain, as the summer time clock ticks on to autumn.