Saturday, August 31, 2013

Fragrance in the Evening

One of the things I really did love about the Austin summer evenings were the night blooming flowers - the tuberose, the moonflower vines, and especially the datura (devil's trumpet). They would fill the summer nights with an intoxicating scent that just blanketed my garden. I brought seeds for the datura with me when I moved along with a bunch of mexican tuberose because I just could not bear to leave them behind. Would they grow up here? I didn't know, but I was sure gonna try to get them to grow.

The tuberose have been all crowded up in pots for a year, but they are finally blooming!:


I bought some moonflower vine seeds from a local store earlier this year and they did grow and are now flowering as well! I've been meaning to get this one repotted in a large pot, but just haven't had the time. It doesn't seem to care and the flower is bigger than the 4-inch pot the vine is growing in right now:


Both the tuberose and moonflower vine are filling the night air with their heady scent and reminding me of the sultry southern summer nights I left behind, but without the heat and humidity.

I also have some datura (devils trumpet) that I have started from seed which are growing pretty well right now, but are not yet large enough to bloom. No worries though, I have a solarium to move them into when the weather starts to cool down and they can keep on plugging along. I will have datura blooms one of these days.