Four O'Clocks

Four O'Clocks
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My four o'clocks started blooming this week! Apparently, they thrive on neglect.

A co-worker gave them to me last year as volunteers he had pulled from his own yard and placed in pots with our native sandy soil. They are a classic passalong plant here in the South, in part because they self-seed so readily.

I pretty much ignored them all year, except for stopping to inhale their intoxicating fragrance from time to time. Once our cold weather set in (yes, I know it's still mild by northern standards), the plants died back. I wondered how they'd fare since they're technically annuals, but was hoping they'd come back since I had heard that they create large, underground tubers.

Sure enough! The foliage sprang up a month or so ago and now I'm graced with flowers. One of my other co-workers views four o'clocks as weeds. I disagree. I think they're wonderful. We're so lucky in the South to have such amazing weeds.