Mystery of my 4 O'clocks....

Weird! I tell you--weird!

My Broken Colors 4's from last Summer dropped enough seeds for many volunteers to come up this Spring. I learned to differentiate the 4's seedlings from the Grandpa Otts that also were coming up in the same area.
The 4's had a slighter indentation in the seedling leaves than the Otts MG.

So, I dug up several and planted them here and there. They were all growing well--and still are---BUT..........about four of the transplanted (when small) 4's are just green bushes. Not one flower!
The other 2 or 3 are blooming away in different locations.

Can there be a non-blooming 4 O'clock? And if yes--then WHY?

Here is one of the green bushes.....all lush and healthy.

Here is a closer look at the leaves. Sure look like all the others to me!

Here is a close look at the leaves of one of the bigger bushes that are blooming.
Don't the leaves look the same to you too?

The blooms are not open as I took this in the early afternoon...

Here is another blooming bush....just so you can compare the leaves.....

The thing is that i KNOW that the volunteers were the "Broken Colors" 4's------That's all that was growing there--besides the MG.

Any ideas--you smart people you!!!

Thanks gita

They may bloom for you yet, Gita. The one I have that came up this year just started to bloom yesterday. If not, you can always dig the tubers and save them for next year or even leave them in the ground and see if they overwinter.

hart--

The "mystery" is that all the volunteers came up within the same small area in the same bed where my Broken Colors 4 was growing....So--they have to be all from the same plant!
The one I left in the same area to grow large is doing great and blooming away---so, WHY are the others not????????

G.

Because they're seedlings and younger. I'm sure they'll bloom earlier next year. It could be if there are a bunch of them in one area that they're competing for water and fertilizer, but it's probably more that they're just younger plants that don't mature and bloom as fast as an established plant.

Also, the ones that aren't blooming could be in spots that are just slightly less of something - sunlight, water, nutrients - that has made them mature a little bit slower than the others.

They'll probably bloom before the cold weather gets here. If not, I'm sure they will next year.

Well--one of these mystery 4 O'clocks (seems they are...) are now having these tiny blooms at the tips--but nothing like all the others. The flowers also seem to open in the AM--not in the evening....The color matches the deep pink in the solid-color blooms on the "Broken Colors" one, but it is smaller around and more trumpet shape.

This is NOT a big deal to me! Will be pulling them up soon anyway--especially the ones that are just all green and taking up lots of space with NO blooms on them.

Here's the whole "bush". See how big it is? And look closely, and you will see the small specks of pink on some of the branch tips......the blooms...

Here's one of the blooms close-up. Sure resembles the 4's that are covered in bloom--but this sure is different.

Compared to THIS! Blooming away! I had NO other seeds mixed in--these all came up under the one I had last year and I transplanted them here and there.

Those might be Limelight, which has fuschia flowers and lighter colored leaves, more of a lime color with very slight mottling in the leaves.

The broken colors will come up in all colors and some might be just one solid color but if you have a bunch that all have solid fuschia blooms I'd say it's probably Limelight or one of the other 4 o'clocks with solid colored blooms. If it's just one plant, it could be simply a plant that has solid colored fuschia blooms.

I have one of the broken color plants blooming now that has yellow and fuschia streaked blooms on some branches and solid fuschia on others. You never know what you're going to get with those.

If it's real shady where they're blooming, that could be why they're blooming earlier. It's the sun, or lack of it, that triggers the blooms to open.

Oh, hart!!!!!

I can counter ALL your suggestions--and validly so!

--I HAD Limelight 4's last year--and this is NOT one of them! Limelight has lime colored foliage. The foliage on these non-bloomers is as green as the one on the "Broken Colors".

--This plant is growing in full afternoon sun AND the "volunteers" sprouted right in the same spot as I had the "Broken Colors" in last year. Also--the "Limelight" was a lot smaller in stature than the B.C. ones. These Non-Blooming ones are as big and wide as the Br. Col.
I appreciate all your hypotheses----but none of them hold true in this case.

Anyway----------------the winds we had from Hannah uprooted this plant anyway. Still have 3 others in other places--ALL green leaves only!
Now I am just going to throw it away. It also blew over my Daturas which are now all leaning. They are still OK--and i will pound their stakes in once more to upright them again.

Seems all I have this year is the purple ones. I have NO idea what happened tot he double/triple yellow ones????? I must have mis-labeled them while they were still in the 4" pots. I know I gave some away.......
I have a small amt. of seeds left from them from last year's collecting. Plenty to grow more next year! NOT enough to share though.....:o(

Tried to find the pics. from my Limelight last year--NO luck!

Well, Gita, I didn't know this was a debate. LOL But if you'll read my post carefully, what I was saying was it could be Limelight or it could just be a broken colors that happens to have all fuschia blooms.

If you had both last year, it could also be some kind of cross between the two. Seeds don't always germinate the first year.

I've had Limelight come up from self sown seeds that had somewhat darker leaves too. They're usually pretty reliably true from seeds but not always. They have all had the fuschia blooms, though.