This is my first year growing them. The first bloom stayed open a couple of days. The rest are like you describe.

HW, I know how disappointing that is. I must say mine are doing very well, with an abundance of blooms each morning, now.

How many bushes do you have, HW? I have so many this year, and so many still coming up.

It's been a great growing season for everything, here. Two nights ago the deer completely leveled my strawberries and tomatoes. That was a deciding factor for me. The novelty of all these deer has definitely worn off. I may not get many strawberries or fresh, home grown tomatoes, this year, but I will have fresh, packaged, venison to give as gifts to friends. Thats a fact!!!!

LOL David! I almost feel sorry for the deer. But I know what you mean. I had watermelons last year (only 2 plants) and the gophers let them get to about tennis ball size before they ate them! Arrrrgh!

As far as the Datura, I only have one in the ground right now. I got it at the SS herb festival this past spring. It's done wonderfully, and is pretty tall right now-about 3 ft. Not bad, considering I got it in a 4 inch pot! It must like where I've got it. I have it in light partial shade-East bed, front of the house, under the eaves of the front porch walkway. I have some small ones I got from Paul, and I am debating where to plant them. I am thinking a backyard hedge. I have my "dead zone" on the side of the house, paritally shaded part of the day, that faces South. I think they may do well there. I thought my first dat was a Lilac, until one night they opened enough that I could see their dark purple throat. I know they'd be gorgeous if I could ever see them. I'd love to have a picture! LOL!

Sherri

I have these dumpy little plants that admittedly are potted, they grow to about 2 feet tall, and maybe 1.5 feet wide. I am somewhat envious of you guys with your 3-9 foot plants I have read about in the forums here.

I do have to admit that my flowers open about 8-9 PM and stay open until about 4-5 AM and they last maybe 4 or 5 days before they start to go to seed.

I have just put six plants in the ground today to see if I have any luck with the size of the plant. I believe the flowers I get are normal, about six inches deep and 4 or 5 inches acrossÂbut they are totally WHITE, where is all this blue and purple everyone is talking about coming from?

Any hints, ideas, suggestions would be appreciated,

Ted

You must have a different verity... This is my first year and mine are about 2 feet tall or so and each plant is about 18 inches wide... My flowers aren't nearly that big, maybe about 3-1/2 to 4 inches long and only about 2 inches wide and to me they don't seem to open all the way... I do have some a lot smaller though... Only planted one pot of them because I didn't know what to expect... Well I planted another one last week ( they're already sprouting ) to see if they're a different color, the seeds are a light brown instead of black like the other ones...

To tell the truth I'm still not sure that what I have is a true moon flower... The seeds pods I got this spring look like Datura pods only mine were egg shaped not round... ( God I wish I had a camera. ) And I didn't have to soak or nick the seeds, just tossed them in the planter, smoothed the dirt over them and watered..

Oh, mine are a light lilac with light purple throats... Although I think the first one was white with a light purple throat... I let that one develop a seed pod and haven't had any other flowers on that one...

Rita

Oops, that's 8 inches wide... lol

gorgeous!!! This is my plant's first year, but I still haven't seen an open bloom. Oh well, I'm sure they're very pretty. ;o)

HW

Ok! Mine are working on doing something..lol. I have 3 vines in one location next to an old stump and one of the vines now has a bud on it just forming. I have one next to my front porch growing on the rail now and actually growing pretty well; but with no blooms. The other two I have are next to a tree and have really fought to survive. One was actually eaten off to a stem with no leaves by something..have no idea what and it has come back in full force. The one next to it is doing okay too; but dont' know how much progress they will make. None of mine are over 2 feet tall except the one next to the porch. Will they come back next year if they don't bloom and re-seed or will I have to start over with new seed? Hope someone knows! The above picture is just gorgeous! Thanks for sharing it Jayman.

❤

Wow!❤️