Moonflowers And Tuberose

Much to my surprise with the warmer weather the moonflowers have been blooming for several evenings. Night before last it was warm in the garden and moonlight reflected on the white flowers. It is interesting that the four moonflowers that opened just after sundown were wilted by 4:00 AM. Last night was somewhat cooler and cloudy. With the overcast skies the three flowers that opened last night were still open and gorgeous into the afternoon. What an unexpected thrill and pleasure to have these big fragrant blossoms to enjoy!




At long last the tuberose buds have begun to open. The other night when it was so cold and the tuberose were safely inside on the landing, even the closed buds were releasing a perfume literally so heavy that you could smell it in the basement , but not upstairs in the house. It's a sweet familiar scent. My first thought was of some bath soap from my distant memory. The fragrance is a little like lily of the valley, but different. The flowers are waxy and have little scent during the day, but when the sun goes down, WOW!




Since the weather has warmed, and because the aroma from just a couple of open blossoms is powerful, the tuberose is back outside in the garden. The air is filled with fragrance meant to entice night-flying pollinators. It's easy to see why these flowers were so popular back when bathing was an uncommon occurrence. This plant fills the garden with fragrance.

Advice From A Moonflower

It's not like the signs haven't been everywhere, but this dropped but unopened moonflower bud is sending me a message. Nights are getting too darned cold here for tropical, zone 10 and 11 plants to shiver outside. Unfortunately for the moonflower, the vines are simply too large to bring inside. Every year I hope to experience those huge , white, fragrant flowers, but more often than not this is the outcome. Let's see, my garden is zone 4 so this plant would rather grow about 7 zones warmer than here.




Another zone 11+ plant, the tuberose, is not small, but Ed dug the clump and moved it inside to a south facing window. It pouted for a day, but now it looks like I may still get to experience the fragrance of the tuberose. The house is cool for this plant , but with the southfacing window I still have hope.




Digging this giant clump of lemon grass was a chore for Ed . The five gallon bucket and the plant are heavy. The hand cart came in handy to wheel this plant into the safety of the basement. This clump spent last winter in a bucket there and did fine. Now it's bigger than ever.

Last night was cold, but tonight the county just to the North of us has freeze warnings. Being downhill from there, we will be lucky indeed to avoid a frost. Ed will spend the afternoon removing tender plants from the garden. It's a much more pleasant experience before frost turns them into slime.

"Dangerous Pleasures"

Being a fragrant plant lover, I just could not resist the catalog description of tuberose.  I know I live in zone 4 and Polianthes tuberose is from Mexico, but I succumbed to temptation anyway.  That was last year.  I started with 5 bulbs.  By frost there were just 3 plants to bring inside.  The plant never died back and we planted it outside again this year when the danger of frost had passed.  Now it's back in the house.  Green growth has filled the pot to be sure, but I want flowers!

Every book on fragrant flowers mentions tuberose.  The fragrance is called enchanting,curiously strange. It has been called the sweetest flower and said to cast a spell.   In Dr. Jeffries book on the meaning of flowers published in 1893 the tuberose means "dangerous pleasures."  Just what do you suppose dangerous pleasures consisted of in 1893?  I guess I should stop reading about this plant, it's making me green with envy of gardeners who live where this plant will bloom easily.  But how can I stop?  I want desperately to know how to get my tuberose to bloom.

It has never died back. There's no way it can go outside in April.  Probably about June 1 we plan to plant the clump right in front of the house in our warmest bed.  Maybe we need some kind of temporary greenhouse to place over it when it gets too cool.  We have to try.  I'm not giving up easily on this plant.  It's way too intriguing.