I have a 4 O'clock that contains red, yellow, and orange flowers. I know that seed from plants do not always produce true to its parent. I want to know if there is a way to propagate this plant from cuttings? Or can the tuber be cut during the dormant period to produce a new plant?
Ooops! Forgot to attach photos to the previous post . .here is the 4 O'clock that I want to propagate.
4 o'clocks are weeds! they self sow quite readily. Let the plant set seed and collect it before they fall off the plant. Or you can let the seeds fall off and sprout out next season for new plants.
I wouldn't even worry about it. I have 4 o'clocks, the red, white, and purplish red flowers. These plants produce so much seed that in all probabilities you are likely to get a comparable mix of the colors you like. I favor the white ones. In trying to get this weed out of my vegetable garden I have often sliced through the dark tubers and inadvertently leave some in the ground. And they simply come back!! While they may seem nice they do dominate the area and shade out plants that I am trying to grow for food!!!
OK, Terrrestial Man, you're walking on dangerous territory! lol . . .A weed is only a plant who's virtues haven't been discovered! I really like, excuse me, love, my 4 o-clocks - and yes, I've dug many and threw on the compost pile! I'm just really curious as to whether this tri-colored (the first one I've had in 20 years of growing 4 O'clocks) will seed true to the parent plant.
A tri-color???! Yo! No wonder. That really sounds interesting. I think you already have a handle on what can be done. I would secure the tubers of the selected plant and plant in a separate area and let it grow. These babies can get HUMONGOUS! The tubers that I have dug up and tossed almost always seem to be of several divisions. Let your special one grow for a season or two and then try a division to propagate. You also may try controlling pollination but I don't think that you will get what you are after with seeds. It would be interesting doing a Mendelian chart on how your tri-color came to be genetically. As far as weeds are concerned: I define a weed as an unwanted plant. That is why I do not consider Teasel to be a weed as I really love this interesting looking plant and welcome those that survive in my yard. But 4-o'clocks, though I find the flowers nice, are just too much for my yard and tend to be too dominating for my different garden areas except I will tolerate the white one but I have a bad habit of letting these kinds of plants eke out their existence despite my desire to yank them out and give them the old heave-ho!!!
Yea, I have a pretty good idea how to handle this, but I just want soooooooo bad to ensure that I keep this particular 4 OC! I have already removed everything from around it to give it plenty of room to grow. And I know they can get huge . .I have some red ones that get about 4.5 tall and that wide each summer. I love the white ones too. But I agree they can get aggravating in the spring with their reproduction, but you usually have to be pulling out something anyway, so why not be 4 OC's??? I have a huge yard, and we're quite a distance off the road, so it takes a lot to 'overpower' it . .I allow four red ones, two pink ones and one white one to grow each year . .the others a plucked out and to the compost pile they go. I'm not at all familiar with Teasel . .gonna go now and check it out! We have not had a good growing season in S Georgia at all . .we had a very mild winter . .and no spring rains . .we just started getting rain last Monday so of course everything is really beginning to pick up now. My gardens are about half the size they usually are this time of year! In fact, my dahlias are just now beginning to bloom and I've usually deadheaded and had tons of cut flowers by this time of year! I've added a couple more of the tri-colored 4 OC's . .those first ones weren't very good!
Hi Ed, 4 O'clock is the name of these flowers, see the pictures posted by Ima Tucker above. They bloom at (about) 4:00 pm until about 9:00 am the next day. They are so pretty.
The mixed colour variety can be grown from seed. This site displays the variations well in their photos: Mirabilis jalapa 'Broken Colours' The seed is sold under that name (or 'Broken Colors'). Flowers are fragrant, especially evening and night.
Hello there ! Ima......I have many four O clocks and have rooted many of them by simply breaking off a branch and placing it into the ground, or a container , watering it only a couple of times (if you water it too much, it will rot before rooting) and just leaving it alone.......they root very easily from branch cuttings ! Discovered this by accident one day, broke a branch off by mistake when taking seeds off the plant, and just stuck it into the ground instead of throwing it away. It wilted for a couple of days, I watered it, and it just took off ! The branch I broke off was about about 8" long, had blooms on it but I pinched the blooms off before sticking the branch into the ground.......... I now break off branches and root my own plants from my favorite colors ! (I live in Central Florida)
i have many 4 oclocks.yellow,white,pink and broken. the pinks are by far the most fragrant. they will grow larger every year i have some almost 6 feet tall
