Garden flower night candle
Night candle flower, or evening primrose, belongs to the willow family. Its peculiarity is that the buds open at night, so not everyone can enjoy their aroma.
The plant reaches 30-120 cm in height. Stems are straight or creeping. Leaves on a short petiole, oval-elongated. They resemble donkey ears. The flowers are large, up to 10 cm in diameter. They are collected in inflorescences, 3-7 buds open at the same time. The flowers are white, pink or lemon yellow.
A candle flower can live in one place for up to 10 years.
Evening primrose bloom is fabulous, abundant. Flowers appear one after another from June to autumn frosts. Petals open at dusk. It is very difficult to capture this moment, since it lasts no more than 1-2 seconds. Flowers live only one night, in the morning the inflorescences wither. The flowers give off a pleasant aroma.
You can see flowering in the daytime if the weather is cloudy outside. The petals do not close in this case.
Evening primrose can be propagated by seed or by dividing the bush. It also reproduces by self-seeding. The seed capsule ripens in September. The collected seeds remain viable for up to 4 years.
Varieties of flower night candle
There are about 100 species of this plant. Among them there are perennial, biennial, undersized and tall flowers. Perennials are good because every year they bloom more and more abundantly.
The candle flower is a frost-resistant plant, not susceptible to diseases and pests. Popular perennial varieties:
- Evening primrose is biennial. Tall plant, up to 2 m in height. Blooms bright lemon.
- Evening primrose missouri. This is a short flower, up to 30 cm in height. The flowers are golden yellow in color.
- Evening primrose quadrangular. Bushes 50-70 in height. The stems are straight, the leaves are oval, green with a blue tint. In autumn, the leaf plates turn red. Flowering lasts from June to August. Inflorescences are yellow.
- Evening primrose shrub. Bushes up to 90 cm in height. Branched stems, dark green leaves. Inflorescences up to 3 cm in diameter, bright yellow.
Drummond night candle and pale evening primrose belong to annual varieties.
Perennials for the winter need to be cut at a level with the soil.
Evening primrose in the garden will fill the entire space around them with a beautiful floral scent. Tall varieties can be used in group plantings with bells, daylilies and delphiniums. Low-growing varieties look with ageratums and lobelias.