Four O’clocks

Growing up poor in eastern Oklahoma, we had a pretty little pink flower right by the steps to the front porch.  It bloomed late in the day, a tiny delicate flower.  Some of the country folks called it a four o’clock.  

Many times, we’d throw the dishwater out to water the plant.  

It would come back every spring and bloom until frost.  

Later in life, I learned that this old-fashioned flower is part of the Nyctaginaceae family.  It is generally grown throughout most of the US with special love for zones 7-10.

Four o’clock are native to tropical South America in the Andes and also sometimes called Marvel of Peru.  It is the most commonly grown ornamental species of Mirabilis.

The roots are tuberous taproots, sort of like large and long radishes, that can be a foot or more long and weigh up to 40 pounds in some climates.

When our kids rented a college house in the Chattanooga, Tennessee, area, they had a four o’clock plant at the front door.  We dug up some massive roots from that plant.

Seeds from these blooms at Buffalo Feathers Farm came from seeds from stock at my parents’ Rocking D Ranch which were from grandparents in western Arkansas.  Or, they could have come from stock from old timers Flossie Young or Katie Arnold, both from Norman, Oklahoma, who have shared seeds with many garden enthusiasts.  Flowers come in bright and pastel shades of red, white, yellow, pink, and magenta. Different colors can be found on the same plant, either simultaneously or at different times. Flowers may even be bicolored, speckled, or variegated.

The seeds are round and black which resemble peppercorn.