Sunday, April 12, 2015

Night White

Oenothera pallida "Innocence"
At last I am introducing Oenothera pallida "Innocence", one of the few plant varieties I grew from seed last winter.  It deserved to be presented sooner!  The first one began blooming about a week and a half ago.  It is a night-bloomer; and especially during the first week, the blossoms were entirely spent by midmorning.  Oddly enough, they are holding a little longer through the mornings now, and I am adjusting (slightly) to photographing their stark white blossoms.
Oenothera pallida "Innocence"
As it comes into its own, it is proving floriferous, up to six large (3.5 in/9 cm) blooms on a couple of the plants tonight.  It is low-growing; my specimens thus far are around 8 - 12 inches (20 - 30 cm) high with considerable variation in width, up to 2 ft (61 cm) wide in one case, though the others are smaller.  It has a low, semi-prostrate habit.
Oenothera pallida "Innocence"
Growth is open; at this point I would say this is not a plant to smother weeds, unlike O. speciosa.  Perhaps that will change as it settles in ever more strongly.  With its current habit, I would like to grow some of the taller summer bulbs through the foliage.
Oenothera pallida "Innocence"
As I noted earlier, its flowers open at night.  They turn pink and collapse next morning.  The plants seem to be more or less self-cleaning, with spent blooms dropping off the plant within a few days.
My first glimpse of them is generally by the electric lights from the adjacent patio.  The luminous white petals have a wonderful glow, even in the dark.  I have never before grown anything for a night garden.  I begin to understand its allure through these plants - the sense of something that has just bloomed, just made its presence known after the day is done, something fugitive and sweet. And they are a little fugitive, especially here where there is so little dusk due to the latitude and low humidity.

What is not fugitive is the scent, perhaps best described as very sweet lemon with no tang.  It's hard to describe a smell!  There is plenty of it; it's probably the most fragrant flower I have at the moment, and happily, it becomes airborne, wafting across the garden.

The species is a western US native, growing in Colorado and Utah.  It is said (Southwest Colorado Wildflowers) to spread by means of its rhizomes.

I discovered this variety by chance as I was hunting through end-of-season bargains from Park Seeds last year.  I am so pleased that I tried it!  The plants themselves have been very sturdy, showing almost no transplanting shock, and never seeming concerned about dry conditions.  Though I confess that I've been keeping them fairly well watered since I've been enjoying their flowers so much...
Oenothera pallida "Innocence"
Footnote: I've decided it may be very helpful later if I begin posting a record of weather conditions now.  This way I will be able to make comparisons from one month, or year, to the next.  So for today: Sunny, Low: 59 F (15 C)/High: 85 F (29.4 C)

6 comments:

  1. They really are a lovely plant! I've never really considered growing anything for night-time, as even in summer, early evenings are often below 50F and foggy, so you don't always feel like sitting outside! But something like this might be just the ticket for an enclosed porch

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Night is one of the best times of day here - during summer... as long as there aren't many mosquitoes... ;-) But in a cooler climate, this might be super for an enclosed porch, especially since it puts out so much fragrance for its size. At this stage it looks like it would be good as a trailing plant for a pot, but I understand it can get woody at the centre so that might not work...

      Delete
  2. What a lovely delicate flower. There is something a little mysterious about a night bloomer ! I wonder why it does flower at night - is it to attract moths ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wonder? I haven't seen many moths on these so far, though now that you mention it, I would expect moths to love these huge flowers. Or could it be to protect them from high daytime temperatures? I would like to know...!

      Delete
  3. It's very pretty, Amy. I feel a little wary of Oenothera given that O. speciosa has become a weed in my garden but, based on your post, it sounds as though O. pallida may not present the same problem with rampant self-seeding.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am keeping a close eye on this one, Kris, since I had to try to eliminate O. speciosa from my earlier garden for the same reasons. I think it will take a lot more for most plants to self-seed in this garden in any case; I do see some online references to O. pallida self-seeding if not deadheaded... Hopefully I haven't been too rash in planting this one - personally I find it much more attractive than O. speciosa...!

      Delete