Hello I live in White Rock. I bought this house in Nov. of last year. In the Spring a garden plot came alive with what looked like bush peas. Later the newer leaves looked like bean plants. They continued to grow much higher than beans plus the stalk was thick and hollow. When I pulled a few out the roots look like parsnip. The larger one in the attachments is about 4' high. The flowers are either of the two colours shown. They seem to close up in the heat of the day. Any ideas? Thanks Ken
Mirabilis jalapa, often called Four O'clock. Reseeds prolifically. Will sprout next year from this years roots unless you have a hard freeze. Heck, I had a few hours of hard freeze and they still came back.
Without a hard freeze, each year the root will get bigger. The advantage is that it will flower earlier than the new seedlings. I have no idea how old that root can get, but suspect only a handful of years. Not to worry: by the time one gets old and split or decayed, other roots are a year or two old. Every decade or so I get tired of it and rip it all out, but there are always seedlings that make it two or three years later without me noticing. So I start all over again. Plus I always save some seed.
I would have to say it's because at about 4pm every day the flowers open up. They seem to close up in the heat of the day. Ken
Than, the oldest 4-O'Clocks I've ever seen down here were more than 10 years, and had impressive caudices. They were really immense plants. I've also seen them at that age with absolutely no caudex - I'm guessing that the development has something to do with the annual water levels that the plants get - the caudex is bigger in drier areas. Incidentally, in their natural environment the flowers are pollinated by large moths, which adds another explanation as to why they open for teatime and are most fragrant at about 7 pm.
Cool, Lorax. I have seen them persist for many years at abandoned homesteads, but haven't noted a caudex. I can see how one would form though.
