Ridgetop

4:00s aren't perennial up here but they will reseed like crazy all on their own.
Here is one picture of one patch of my 4:00s from last summer and they were in partial morning sun only.
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penny

i forgot to mention that they got about2 1/2'-3' high. I am on the border of zone 5&6 If you want seeds let me know.

penny

Hi Ridgetop!

I've been planting and growing 4's for five years now. It's a shame that some people think of them as evasive. For Zone 5 they are annual but I've saved the tubers. I pulled a tuber on my second year that measured over 36" long. When I seperated it for the next year of planting I had a piece left over and let it grow in a compost area where it grew to almost over 7' tall. The main stem diameter was as large as a Silver Dollar.

It was terracotta and beautiful. I have photos but can't post. I don't live to far away from you just outside of Syracuse.

I've had a lot of fun with the four's and for two years used them as a fund raiser for our Neighborhood Watch when I lived in Syracuse. The theme was beautification but the fact they were an evening flower we emphazised "they watched" over the neighborhood at night.

Seedlings were .25 cents ea. or 5 for $1.00. And potted tubers sold from $3.00 to $5.00. We raised up to $400.00 on each spring occasion.

It was fun to share the beauty.

Just an added note when I plant our Dahlias in the area where we now live, were deer are a plenty I intersperse the Dahlias with Four's since they are poisonous to deer. I don't know if it works or not but I haven't had a problem.

Good luck with your fours.

Jim

Four o'clocks will get to be a fair size and blossom freely if grown from seed.
For a head start, you can buy tubers. very cheaply, from Brent and Becky.
The ones I like best are the multi-color ones and, unfortunately, a lot of the self-sown ones are solid color.

I've started 4's indoors a few weeks before planting time and they get to a good size with lots of bloom. i started some in a 'hot house' one year and transplanted them. Those got huge. I'm in the Catskill Mountains where theres not a huge long growing season.
Nancy

They do so well for me that I got tired of digging up the tubers every year, so now I keep them only in containers. My little hummingbirds adore them and happily visit them on the deck. This helps with the territory wars my hummers have--one can be at the feeder and another at the 4-o'-clocks. After the frost I plunk the containers in the basement and pay no attention to them till I see them coming up in the spring. Starting them from seed is a breeze, and I'm not a very experienced gardener.

Just another question on these. I have a fence that I would love to plant four o'clocks at the base. How invasive are these plants in WNY? I live in Hamburg, NY and I love the look but I don't want the plants to come out of the bed I want to plant them in.

Thank you in advance,

Bron