• About
  • Privacy Policy, Disclaimer, and Disclosure

Garden Experiments

Gardening tips, experiments, product reviews, and stories from my backyard.

  • Plants
    • Vegetables
    • Flowers & Plants
  • Projects & Ideas
  • Wildlife
  • Reviews
  • Recipes
  • Gardens & Butterfly Houses
    • Directory of Butterfly Houses by State
    • Garden Tours
You are here: Home / Flowers & Plants / Alley of Four O’Clocks

July 13, 2015

Alley of Four O’Clocks

Share
Pin
Tweet
Email

As I was walking downtown, the sweet smell of flowers wafted in my direction. After a couple of minutes searching, I found this amazing little alley that had been seeded with four o’clocks. I had forgotten how great they smelled!

Don’t you just love surprise gardens? Someone went through the trouble of beautifying this area with four o’clocks. It was a lovely surprise and hidden well away. Urban gardening at its best.

Four O'Clocks planted in the alley
Four O’Clocks planted in the alley

Here’s a view from the other end of the alley. It just goes to show you that some plants will grow in even the strangest locations. This small garden really made the alley so much prettier.

Four O'Clock Alley
Four O’Clock Alley

American Meadows - The Best Place for a huge selection of wildflower seeds, flower bulbs, perennials, seed packets, ornamental grasses, ferns, and berries at great prices! Click Here!

Four O’Clocks

Four O’Clocks (Mirabilis jalapa) are an annual (although in warmer climates they may be perennial) and are usually sown by seed. Collecting seeds from them is very easy. Plant the seeds in early spring, after the last frost. Cover seeds with 1/4 inch of soil and keep them moist until they germinate.

The plants can grow to be up to 3 feet high and will produce a multitude of blooms. As the name implies, the blooms open in the late afternoon and have a strong, sweet smell.

They prefer full sun, but will tolerate some shade. They are drought tolerant once established and can withstand the heat of summer.

The flowers are tubular and come in yellow, red, white, pink, orange and even mottled/striped colors.

Yellow 4 o'clock flower
Yellow 4 o’clock flower
Pink 4 o'clock flower
Pink 4 o’clock flower

American Meadows - The Best Place for a huge selection of wildflower seeds, flower bulbs, perennials, seed packets, ornamental grasses, ferns, and berries at great prices! Click Here!

Share
Pin
Tweet
Email

/ Flowers & Plants, Small Space Gardening / full sun, summer flowers, urban gardens

Recent Posts

  • My Dog Ate Poisonous House Plants: Lessons I Learned
  • Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens): A Native Vine for Hummingbirds
  • Native Shrubs for Shade Gardens

About Me

Welcome! My name is Kathy and I live in Georgia Zone 7B. Gardening has always relaxed and rooted me (literally!). It's my happy place. With more than 25 years of gardening, I am far from an expert, but I learn from all my experiments. This blog talks about the plants, backyard critters, and more that have made my garden special. Read More

Popular Posts

Purple and White Container GardenPurple and White Container Garden12K Total Shares
Don’t Throw Out that Old Bird Bath! Make It a PlanterDon’t Throw Out that Old Bird Bath! Make It a Planter6K Total Shares
Restore metal outdoor furniture to “like new”Restore metal outdoor furniture to “like new”5K Total Shares
Landscape Solutions for the Base of TreesLandscape Solutions for the Base of Trees5K Total Shares
How to Keep Your Gladiolus Flowers From Falling OverHow to Keep Your Gladiolus Flowers From Falling Over2K Total Shares

Tags

backyard habitat bees berries bird feeders birds bulbs butterflies container garden deer resistant DIY projects fall fall color flowers full sun garden pest gardens herbs how-to hummingbirds indoor plants insects moist soil mulch native plants part shade plant identification projects and ideas propagation propagation. wildflowers raised beds recipes reviews rooting shade shrubs spring spring flowers succulents Summer trees vegetables vines wildflowers wildlife winter

Categories

Plow & Hearth

© Copyright 2022 Garden Experiments · All Rights Reserved ·