Well, Silly me, I thought this plant was a egg gourd and had it in the same container with the egg gourd plants. Yesterday I noticed it had something pointing to the sky and tonight it struted its stuff! It was gave to me from a flower loving friend. I guess I will need to find it a new place to live in my yard since it can get alot bigger than it is.
What a nice surprize! Now tell me what an egg gourd looks like.. I've always wanted to grow a moon flower and a friend once gave me the seeds years ago but I could never get them nicked so I threw them away. Do they become as invasive as a monring glory? My friend had them planted in one spot where they would grow up an outside light pole in her side yard, and they always smelled so good when we would grill outside. Maybe I'll try to grow one this year in a big pot with sometype of trellis. Do you think a large patio container would serve the purpose? Do they come back year after year?
Pippi21, yes it was a big surprize for me! I will need to move it and give it something to climb on since it can climb up to 18 feet. I do know they come from seeds and come back every year and no they are no invasive at all.
My egg gourds look just like a hen egg! The leaves and blooms look like a eggplant, after they finish blooming the egg is white then it turns yellow-I will need to post a pic of it when they start doing their thang. I hope they hurry up since I was out of town for several weeks in the summer and got a late start on growing the plants, they are annuals.
Actually your moon flower is a Datura (not Ipomoea alba which is the one most people call moonflower). Ipomoea alba is a vine, but Datura is not so it's not going to climb anywhere. I think yours is Datura metel http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1235/ although there are several other species with flowers that look similar.
Thanks for the info ecrane3, I will never learn all those fancy names!
Don't worry about remembering the names--I just didn't want you to run out and buy a trellis for something that's never going to climb!
Ecrane3, I have a question about my moonflower! Will the bloom just open for 2 nights and will it have more blooms? Do I need to remove the 1st bloom since it is not trying to open again? I'm sure you know alot more than I do and I can use all the help I can get from all my new friends at DG.
Thanks.
If the first bloom isn't opening anymore then it's done and you can remove it if you want. I don't grow these so I don't know how long they typically last. As far as more blooms, it's hard to say--it's definitely possible it could make more, but it's also still small so you may not get a ton from it this year. I'd just wait and see what happens.
This is the 2 pods that my moon flower has since it only has 2 blooms (this was its 1st year to grow). The leaves are still green and I don't know when to pull the 2 pods off-I'm assuming they will have seeds in them (I hope so).
I need someone to give me info. on what to do next as I am new with moon flowers.
Hey Sherman99,
Will the pods turn brown? I touched 1 yesterday and the spikes on the seedpod feel like they could really do damage ouch! I am very excited about what happens next.
Thanks,
Demetria
I have a datura similar to yours, the seedpods are identical. On mine, the pod opens up long before it turns brown, and if I don't notice for a few days, the seeds are long gone. Or, since I bring mine in for the winter, all over the kitchen. :-) So now I check them every day and try to catch them when they're open but haven't spit the seeds out yet.
mine turn brown then i cut them off. they are pricky. i only have the white ones blooming this year, not sure if you wait till they are brown on all the different colors. i did plant seeds of several other varieties this year (thanks to LazLo) so i guess i will find out if they all grow and bloom. cant wait!
