Re: Mirabilis jalapa - other night fragrant plants

Well, my perceptions have now been altered. I just spent a week with a friend in a mountain village in Naxos. In her garden are several plants of Mirabilis that have been there ever since she has. The flowers are noticably larger than the ones that are all over Istanbul. One of them is the "concentric bicolor," magenta with the more brilliant center. The others were white and a spotty pink, very nice. But the scent was *much* stronger than the smaller-flowered forms I've come across; it really did reach out and grab you. I collected lots of seed of it, and threw out what I'd collected on the streets here!

Coming back to Turkey, I spent a day and night in Samos, where I had my first experience of Night jessamine, a plant I'd read about many times but never actually seen. I don't think it would survive an Istanbul winter, as we seem to be about a "USDA 8b." But I took several cuttings from non-flowering stems anyway; my place is very sheltered and close to the water. The smell, to me was just like that of Matthiola bicornis.

Speaking of stocks - several years back we had taken a trip up to the north side of the island and found a huge patch of some Matthiola, up to about 2 1/2 feet tall, with gray wavy-edged leaves and robust lavender flowers that did not go limp during the day. But no smell. I asked a girl who was picking them if they were night-fragrant, she said no. I didn't believe her. :)) We colleced lots of seed, and took some flowers as well. That night they poured out the sweetest fragrance I've ever experienced aside from a Brugmansia (which can be a bit much actually). I got all the seed cleaned and had it there in a shot glass pending the location of an envelope. When I came back, my friend, unaware of what was in the glass, had cleaned the table.

This time I was there, what did I find growing in the edge of the garden? Several plants of this Matthiola. It appears that when she washed the glass, some of the seeds had splashed into her compost pot which she keeps by the sink. She had been collecting the seeds all summer, so I am now extremely "well-stocked." (Couldn't resist that one...) 8^)

Bob Beer sazci@hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alice laughed. 'There's not use trying,' she said: `one can't believe impossible things.'
'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. `When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast...'
- Lewis Carroll

Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index