The Midday Flower
This is a
pretty flowering plant, and as the name suggests, it blooms in the mid day,
stays throughout the day and night and falls off the next morning. This is a
pretty looking flowering plant and that is very easy to plant and take care of.
This plant is a native of Tropical Asian countries, and has now been
naturalized in many parts of the world owing to its hardy nature and low
requirements.
Botanical Name: Pentapetes phoenicea.
Common Name: Midday flower, Scarlet Mallow, Noon Flower, दुपहरिया (in Hindi)
Uses: Ornamental, decorative purpose.
Flower Colour: Red or Orange
Leaf Type: Elongated, linear with dentate margins, long <11 cms. The arrangement
of the leaves is alternate.
Fragrance: None
Plant Type: 0.5 to 1.2 metres in height. A semi-woody plant with hairs on the stems,
leaves and buds.
Fruit: Yes, essentially hairy round seedpods with five distinguishable chambers
containing small round seeds (much like okra seeds, but smaller in diameter)
Reproduction: Through seeds.
Suitable Climatic and Soil Conditions: Thrives in
almost all conditions. Being a native to tropical areas, loves tropical
climates (high temperatures, sufficient water, and sunlight). Thrives well in
sandy to loamy soils with low to average amount of moisture, but has been found
to be growing in and around lakes and ponds.
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The Midday flower blooms from the last year. |
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The Midday flower blooms from the last year. |
I
planted this for the first time last year in middle of summers, and it bloomed
all through till the onset of winters. The blooms are beautiful to look at,
though have no fragrance. The blooms generate enough seeds to spread it in the
surrounding areas, or to grow again, the next year. This year, I’ve been
somewhat late in sowing the seeds, as my seed packet from the last year’s
collection went missing somewhere. Finally I got the packet a few days back,
which I sowed and since then, a number of seedlings have come up, guaranteeing
me many flowers till the onset of winters.
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The Midday flower seedlings from this year. Guarantee for a lot of these pretty red coloured flowers for close to three months. |
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The Midday flower seedlings from this year. Guarantee for a lot of these pretty red coloured flowers for close to three months. |
I’ll be back
with some more interesting info on rooftop and container gardening. Till then
keep visiting and HAPPY GARDENING!
can i get seeds of this plant
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