Mirabilis JALAPA 'BROKEN COLORS'

Mirabilis JALAPA 'BROKEN COLORS' - Four o'clock 'Broken Colors', Marvel of Peru 'Broken Colors', Beauty of the night.

Can be grown in bonsai style!

Mirabilis is a genus of flowering plants in the Nyctaginaceae family, containing 50 species.

They are mostly perennial, less commonly annual herbaceous plants. Stems are glabrous or pubescent, often sticky (not in the internode area), erect or procumbent. The root is a taproot, slender and rope-like, forming tubers that help the plant survive dry or cool seasons. Leaves are opposite, sessile or petiolate, each leaf of a pair approximately equal to the other. The leaf blade is thin or thickened, and the leaf base is symmetrical.

Inflorescences are axillary or terminal, surrounded like an involucre by petal-like bracts, and bear up to 16 flowers. There are 5 bracts; they are persistent, usually connate, and form a leaf-like or membranous involucre. Flowers are bisexual. In some flowers, the perianth is modified into a distinctive dome. In others, the perianth is funnel-shaped, with the corolla tube expanding abruptly or gradually. There are 3-6 stamens. The style extends above the stamens, and the stigma is capitate.

Fruits possess radial symmetry, usually equipped with a keel. They are obovoid, nearly spherical, or ellipsoidal in shape. The fruit surface is smooth, hard, glabrous, or pubescent.

Mirabilis jalapa is a small herbaceous plant, very popular and beloved by many gardeners around the world. It blooms with yellow, pink, lilac, salmon, or crimson, intensely fragrant flowers. The fragrance is most pronounced during night and morning hours.

Seeds are pre-treated by pouring hot water (50-60 °C (122-140 °F)) over them for several minutes, then sown in a nutritious, loose soil, moistened from a spray bottle, covered with film, and germinated in the light, but not in direct sun, at a temperature of 20-25 °C (68-77 °F). Seedlings require ventilation. Overwatering and drying out of the sowings must be avoided.

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It is undemanding in care and will grow under practically any conditions. It can be grown as an annual for the garden or as a perennial in indoor culture.

It originates from the tropics of South America, but today this species is naturalized across all tropical and warm temperate regions. In cool temperate areas, the above-ground parts of the plant perish with the first frost, regrowing the following spring from tubers preserved in the ground. It grows best in full sun. The plant multiplies very quickly and can spread throughout the entire garden.

In hanging baskets or decorative containers, it looks particularly attractive. Plants grown from seed bloom just several months after sowing.

It propagates by rhizomes or seeds. The rhizome of some specimens can reach a large size and take on a whimsical shape, making Mirabilis suitable for growing as a bonsai.