Yesterday was a lovely day. It was about 80 degrees with low humidity, so we had our attic fan going instead of the air conditioner. Because we had doors and windows open there was a nice breeze coming in from outside. Last night as I was sitting at the computer I realized I was smelling a fragrance of some kind. My first thought was that perhaps there was something in the kitchen, but then I remembered the 4 o'clocks outside by the deck.
4 o'clocks are another "traditional plant" for me. My grandmother had some behind her house. The little flowers opened around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and closed when the sun came up the next morning. When I was little I used to love to go out there and sit among them and pretend all kinds of fanciful things.
I didn't remember about them being fragrant because I hadn't smelled them yet this year. They're not fragrant unless they're open and they're not open here during the day. In fact, ours don't open at 4 o'clock. We've come to call ours 8 o'clocks because they don't open until about then. Why they did that was a mystery to me for quite awhile, but now I suspect that it's because ours are planted on the west side of our house which is still very sunny until much after 4:00. My grandmother's, on the other hand, were on the east side, so hers were very shaded in the afternoon.
Anyway last night I went outside to take a few pictures. It was very dark, and I really couldn't see a thing.
I just pointed the camera into the blackness and took quite a few shots. I wasn't really happy with any of them, because they all showed the flowers as partially closed. I wonder if perhaps they were reacting to the flash? I didn't save the very first one I took. It would have been interesting to see if the flowers looked any different before they were flashed upon repeatedly.
4 o'clocks are another "traditional plant" for me. My grandmother had some behind her house. The little flowers opened around 4 o'clock in the afternoon and closed when the sun came up the next morning. When I was little I used to love to go out there and sit among them and pretend all kinds of fanciful things.
I didn't remember about them being fragrant because I hadn't smelled them yet this year. They're not fragrant unless they're open and they're not open here during the day. In fact, ours don't open at 4 o'clock. We've come to call ours 8 o'clocks because they don't open until about then. Why they did that was a mystery to me for quite awhile, but now I suspect that it's because ours are planted on the west side of our house which is still very sunny until much after 4:00. My grandmother's, on the other hand, were on the east side, so hers were very shaded in the afternoon.
Anyway last night I went outside to take a few pictures. It was very dark, and I really couldn't see a thing.
I just pointed the camera into the blackness and took quite a few shots. I wasn't really happy with any of them, because they all showed the flowers as partially closed. I wonder if perhaps they were reacting to the flash? I didn't save the very first one I took. It would have been interesting to see if the flowers looked any different before they were flashed upon repeatedly.
Anyway, regardless of when they open, I do like the sweet, spicy fragrance that they have to share.
1 comment:
Ah yes, the 8 o'clocks. I think they're just on a different time zone. Alaska time or something.
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