Four O’Clocks
Native to Peru and cultivated for hundreds of years, this drought-tolerant plant has fragrant and colorful blooms. Named for the time of day its flowers open (give or take a couple of hours), this was a popular “passalong” plant among Southern gardeners. Passalong plants are often hard to find in nurseries or retail garden stores, but are “passed along” from one gardener’s yard to a friend or neighbor’s.
Four o’clock (Mirabilis jalapa) grows as a perennial in Florida. The flowers can be red, magenta, pink, yellow or white, sometimes with more than one color on the same plant, and even bi-colored. The white-flowered varieties are a nice addition to a moonlight garden. The trumpet-shaped flowers open in the evening and wilt the next morning, and attract hummingbirds and moths.
Four o’clock does best in full sun and a range of soils, as long as they are well drained. The plants grow 18 inches to 4 feet tall and 12 to 24 inches wide. Propagate by division or seed.
Flowers appear in late spring, lasting throughout the summer until fall. In North and Central Florida, they will die back in the winter. It should be noted that four o’clock can spread aggressively in the warmest regions of the state.
There have been reports of toxicity; ingestion can cause stomach pain and nausea. We recommend keep them out of reach from little hands and curious pets. Handling of the roots may irritate skin, so wear gloves when transplanting.
For information on this and other landscape plants, contact your county Extension office.