Annuals: Moonflower, 1 by bluespiral

bluespiral wrote:
I don't mean to encourage throwing in the trowel with the legendary moonflower (Ipomoea alba),

But!

there are many other flowers that flower by the moon, and one species that would give you long, rambling vines to walk under with many night-blooming, white, fringed, fragrant flowers that are a joy to look up to and view in sillouette against a twilight sky is the gourd species: Lagenaria siceraria.

This is not a coy flowerer like Ipomoea alba can be for some of us northerners - it covered 50' of yew hedge and romped up to the top of a magnolia from which eventually it dangled 6' long, narrow gourds sold to us by Pinetree as 'Cucuzzi carravazi'. In Hortus III, L. siceraria has a few different common names: Bottle gourd, Hercules gourd, Calabash, Dipper, among others. It is said to be edible if you can get to it when it's 6" to 9" long.

I gave all our seed to Momcat and a volunteer to Roadrunner. Perhaps they could share some seed...?

Here's a 19th Japanese woodcut of this plant, labeled:
Yoshitoshi_Genji_Yugao_no_maki
from: http://www.japaneseprints.net/gallery.cfm

The Tokugawa shogunate which had kept Japan stable for 300 years during its Edo period (approx. 1603 - 1867) fell during Yoshitoshi's lifetime shortly after Japan was opened up to Western commerce and civil war broke out. Yoshitoshi's art reflects very cruel times, so be prepared if you decide to check out his woodcuts on this website.

This woodcut is #5 from Yoshitoshi's series: 100 Aspects of the Moon