We have a moonflower

[AugustWest]

It's right in front of our house.  Mrs. West is quite the little gardener, so I have her to thank.

It's a cool plant.  It's grown to almost three feet high and about four feet across.  It's a good sized bush, and it's covered with these great big white flowers about the size of both of you hands.  The blossoms only open up at night (thus the name).  It's cool.

But the best part is the smell.  It has a very sweet scent, plus it's kinda lemony.  I like it, very much.

That is all.  Commence making fun of me.

[slink]

Can't bring myself too. If I had a garden, I'd do some gardening. I'd want to make it a nice place I could chill out with in the afternoon/evening. But, I'm poor so I don't.

[Vinz Clortho]

What's to make fun of?  That's outstanding!  I have never seen nor smelled a moon flower, though I have always wanted to.  I've been working toward thinning out a grove of trees at the edge of my property and turning part into a garden.  I reclaimed a 20-foot diameter circle of land from a monsterously overgrown forsythia bush (pretty and smelled good, though), trimming it down to only a foot-and-a-half diameter and 1 foot tall. Now I'm waiting for my clematis to sprout and grow up the thin trees; they're a lovely flowering plant and smell wonderful.

I think that's all I can bring to this conversation before it swings to Sights.

[AlohaDawg]

That moonflower sounds VERY cool! What climate does it grow in? I'll send you some plumeria sticks to start some trees in trade. The house I just moved out of had 8 plumerias, gorgeous and smelled great. My new house is surrounded by Hibiscus bushes five feet high and pretty long. The flowers are huge.

Living in Hawaii means lots of great smells.

[AugustWest]

I'm pretty sure it grew from seed, and it reseeded itself from last year's plant.  It makes big ol' seed pods, which I would be happy to share with anybody who wants some.

Of course, I would welcome anything in trade.  We're plant people and we have almost 3 acres of ground, so we have plenty of space for cool plants.

As far as climate goes, we are in Kentucky, which is Zone 6.  I don't know what is recommended for this plant, but it does seem to be flourishing here.

[slink]

I'd trade you for some seeds of the opium poppies we have in our garden. They're a beautiful purple/very light puprle variagation and quite lagre, and spring up every summer now.
They arrived after I found the seeds in little piles having obviously fallen out of a trailer on one of the farm tracks around here, which I found somewhat odd... But ever since they've sprung up every year. (note, in the North of England chances of anything dodgy becoming off them is minute)
But, I don't know how easy it would be to get them through customs!!
Was difficult enough getting a pair of trousers through last time!

[doomglobe]

I fart on your moonflower.

[doomglobe]

everyone should grow canabis so they know what a pain in the ass it is.

[slink]

everyone should grow canabis so they know what a pain in the ass it is.

It's a piece of piss... or do you mean in terms of it being a weed?

[AlohaDawg]

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5233a2.htm

I didn't realize that Moonflowers could be abused. I guess they are kin to the old standard, Jimson Weed.

Careful of those seeds, August....

[AugustWest]

I certainly wasn't aware of any abuse potential for the Moonflower.  I've done lots and lots of chemical things in my day but Jimson Weed is one thing I've always stayed well away from.

Horticultural Note:  Hemp hard to grow?  Are you kidding?  Why do you think they call it weed?  Of course, 150 years ago, a couple of guys from the next county over cornered the world hemp market, so maybe it grows pretty well in these parts....

[wombat]

Moonflowers are basically a kind of morning glory, whose seeds are poisonous.  It is easy to find the seeds to buy in the spring.  They are very wonderful.

Mine got choked out by the adjacent morning glories this year.  Which is too bad.  I used to have a job where sometimes I got up too late and the morning glories had already closed up.  Now I have a job where I leave for work so early the morning glories aren't out yet.  I should just stick with the moonflowers next year, at least I will always be awake at the time that they bloom.

[AugustWest]

I wasn't aware that moonflowers were related to morning glories, although, now that you mention it, they do bear a certain family resemblance.

All my reading on the subject of morning glory seeds has indicated that they contain minute amounts of chemical precursors of LSD.  Rather than being toxic themselves, seed distributors often coat them with a slightly toxic substance to prevent abuse.