Asked on Oct 03, 2014

Moon flower just now blooming! Why?

Bernice H
by Bernice H
Douglas Hunt Another question for you..my moon flower didn't appear on the scene until early September..and is just NOW blooming. It has done this for a couple of years now. It has bloomed for maybe 5 days and now we expect FROST! It is in a shady area of the garden, would that have inhibited it from growing? Last year it was a surprise, volunteer..this year I kept looking for it and finally it showed up. The fragrance is lovely. Why doesn't it grow earlier in the season? I just looked it up and supposedly it grows and blooms all summer into fall. NOt mine.
  6 answers
  • Bernice H Bernice H on Oct 03, 2014
    And you can see it is blooming at 10:30 in the morning...not at night..
  • Pam Pam on Oct 03, 2014
    Mine is also late growing and just started blooming, mine is blooming at night.
  • Dorothy Dorothy on Oct 04, 2014
    This appears to be the Datura "Moonflower" and not the ipomoea "Moonflower".....correct? In my area these are late summer and early to mid fall bloomers and prefer full sun. They will stay open into the morning if cloudy or shaded.
  • Douglas Hunt Douglas Hunt on Oct 04, 2014
    Bernice, the experience you have had is not at all uncommon with those growing moonflowers in northern climes. Moonflowers need to have reached a certain level of maturity, and have shortening days, to bloom. In northern areas, it can take until late in the season for those two things to happen. I can't really explain why yours is in bloom at 10:30 in the morning, although it may have something to do with being in the shade. For a good explanation of their photoperiodism, see: http://gardenmaking.com/moonflowers-in-bloom/
  • Bernice H Bernice H on Oct 04, 2014
    Thank you @Douglas Hunt and others. I had a friend whose back yard was a literal garden of moonflowers. I got my seed pods from her many years ago. I had several growing in my garden, then finally took them all out in favor of hostas. As I said, this is a volunteer and showed up last year as a volunteer after many years of none in the garden.I couldn't believe it ; as everything else was shutting down, this started growing. I was very excited. thank you all..I will keep track and see how long it survives as it gets colder and frostier.
  • Leslie D Leslie D on Oct 05, 2014
    Be careful with these. We had them in our front yard (just began growing for no apparent reason), and were warned by police that teenagers in Vegas were using the seed pods as a hallucinogenic and that they can be extremely dangerous. We immediately killed it with weed spray for liability reasons. Ours were in the front yard and readily visible and accessible. This is an article. http://www.denverpost.com/favorites/ci_10618961