They are only fragrant at night, and I find that you have to get fairly close to the flower to smell them.

I have smelled them at night and no scent that I can detect. The ones I rememberd were so strong that when you
walked by them you could really get a strong whif. I read that the yellow ones have a stonge fragrance anyone know?

I have the pink and they are very fragrant from several feet away. I am in a humid area though. That may be the key? My sister has yellow and she claims they are just as fragrant.
Pattie

I just planted new ones a couple of months ago, bought the seed packet from Wal-mart it said fragrant on the package, they just started blooming this week and no fragrance, they are an orangey pink color... I'm just baffled by this whole frangrance thing, I just ordered some new seeds from E-baby that said fragrant, we'll try it again..... LOL

Will these work in Zone 5?

only if you lift the tubers in the fall in zone 5. you would want to do that because they flower better the older they are. don't know if you would get good flower production from seedlings each year.
i have ones with solid white flowers and they are nicely fragrant. in fact, never heard of one that wasn't fragrant.
i think you sniffer is out of whack, sweetmichelia. :-)
if you like, i can collect some seeds and send for postage.
i don't know how many there will be, though. i have tried to eradicate them over the years because they spread so aggressively here but have kept one clump and mow or pull any stray seedlings that appear.

I suspect that most 4 o'clocks sold these days, like petunias and other annuals, are selected for color and floriferousness, not fragrance. White varieties tend to be the most fragrant, in general, and like folks said, they're only fragrant in the afternoon, hence the name.

I've never gotten any scent from any I've smelled either!

Jim

4 o'clock plant does have some mild fragrance but it is not wafty fragrance like that of Jasmines.

Pic. of 4 o'clock flower from my garden.

{{gwi:382120}}

I think part of it may be how young your plant is. Mine are very strong every evening. Here's my plant.
Pattie

Here is a link that might be useful: 4 O'clocks

Here is a picture of the pink ones that I planted from seed that look like your flowers, these have absolutely no
fragrance at any time of the evening.... :(
I just planted a whole new batch I got on ebay, he said they are fragrant we'll see. I don't get it.....

I just happened to be reading through some of your posts and found this. I just thought I would add my 2 cents in here for whatever it's worth.

My mom's neighbor has some purple 4 o'clocks. They have a very strong jasmine scent. She said when the evenings are humid the smell just perfumes the air. She did not know what kind of 4 o'clocks they were and said she got them from a friend. She gave me some seed so I'm excited to try them.

It does good in warmer weather.I remember a 4 o'clock plant in my school garden in India.It's flowers had very strong fragrance.Flowers were larger in size compared to what I have here.I believe it is a warm weather plant.

HI I'm sweetmichelia with a new name, now sunpetal, anyway my story is this, when I lived in Yorba Linda 35 years ago I smelled a gogeous scent walking out back, it was 4 o'clocks, that was so long ago I don't recall the color. I have been trying to re-enact that plant ever since, my friend has white ones that smell beautiful, I have some white in my garden that have a slight scent if you put your nose in them, also I have a huge bush of bright pink that have no scent, I have tried all times after 4 nothing. Please tell me your colors that waft.

It's sort of a toss up....
I sprouted 5 packs of four o'clock seeds, and the fragrance varies greatly from individual plant to individual plant.

One plant in particular is around 6 times more fragrant than any of the others. I can smell it throughout my whole yard and house at night

so what color is the plant that has a fragrance? I have 2 colors of pink and one white and none of them are fragrant, but my friend had a white one that was.... weird.

Well, I went around my yard and sniffed al my four o'clock for you. Turns out I have four that smell extremely strongly.
One is pink, one is red, one is white, and one is yellow.
When I went around I took note of how many in each colour category were fragrant. In the end out was pretty much even.
I don't think colour has much to do with fragrance.

I live in the tropics where humidity is high and my 4 o'clocks plants grow well. Fragrance ? Could not sense it. So disappointed & planning to get some from other sources.

Here is a link that might be useful: PHOTO OF MY 4 O'CLOCKS

I have had them from select seeds catalog, and they are quite fragrant at night but not at all until after 10pm. I grew the coral/yellow/pink vareigated kind. Can't remember the name. The tuber is a monster and having been warned about their wandering ways, I had them in a half barrel.

Select seeds catalog is awesome : http://www.selectseeds.com
Good reading for winter time when we can imagine gardening six acres of fragrant plants!

Pea