Night-blooming plants for evening fragrance

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32588, 23 April 1971, Page 11

Night-blooming plants for evening fragrance

After a hot day in summer it is pleasant to sit in the garden or on the terrace in the cool of the evening. Once it is dark there is not much of the garden we can see to enjoy, but at least we can savour the perfume of flowers.

At this time of the year, interest in the garden is produced mainly by bedding plants which, though colourful, usually lack perfume. Scented flowers are not very common during the summer, and those with scent seem to lose much of it during hot weather.

On hot summer evenings we readily appreciate perfumes from the garden so a few night blooming plants provide a change. These should be planted close to the terrace or the lawn where: you sit, or under a sitting-! room window.

Many plants which bloom at night are closed by day and only open in the late afternoon. Their perfume acts as an attraction to nightflying insects which pollinate the flowers.

Mirabilis jalapa (Marvel of Peru) is a native of tropical South America. It is usually grown as an annual, being sown each year, although | strictly speaking it is a perennial with tuberous roots : which will survive the winters experienced in most disj tricts. Seeds can be sown where they are to flower or they can be raised under i glass and then planted into their permanent positions—a well drained sunny situation. This is a robust plant reaching 3ft in height with numerous angled stems. The (leaves are heart-shaped and I the flowers are produced in clusters at the end of short

branches. They open one or two at a time and although they do not last for long the faded ones are constantly replaced by new ones. Colour varies from white through the shades of pink to dark red but there are yellow forms as well.

During the day these flowers remain closed and open up in the evening when their strong sweet scent becomes obvious. Flowering is continuous until the arrival of frost. Matthiola bicornis comes from Greece and Turkey, a sprawling annual with narrow, oblong, grey leaves. Seed is usually sown direct where it is to flower and the resulting seedlings trimmed out. These can be transplanted if so desired. The plant attains a height of about 18 inches, producing spikes of almost stalkless flowers in shades of pink or mauve. These remain curled and crumpled by day but open in the evening to emit a sweet, spicy fragrance. Nicotiana alata or sweet scented tobacco is again usually treated as an annual, being re-sown each year although perennial by nature, reappearing annually from an underground root stock. It is a strong growing plant reaching about four feet in height The leaves are large, soft and rather sticky. Flower colour varies from white through shades of pink to deep red but the whites probably are the strongest scented.

Like the other plants mentioned' the flowers of sweet tobacco are closed by day and open in the evening, with their pleasant and penetrating perfume. A deep rich soil suits this plant best and some protection from wind is most desirable.

The fine seed should be sown under glass and the young seedlings planted out only when the dangers of frost have receded.