I brought a four o'clock home from a swap several years ago, and those things make seeds like nobody's business! I collected a few with the thought to plant some, but many of the ones that fell to the ground came up in their own time, no extra work required. I think that standard four o'clocks are great for winter sowing, and hey, since it's supposed to snow this weekend, you might throw some seeds out where you want the plants this weekend and see what they do, no soaking or anything would be required at this point! Honestly, I've never bothered starting them indoors! However, we've had jays in our yard, and I think they may have eaten all of the seeds that I "planted" (read: let lie) last fall, so I think I'm going to reseed and then will cover the area to protect it and see how it goes. Good luck!

I've never planted one but I bought some seeds this year and started them in trays in the unheated greenhouse. They germinated about a month ago but have been slow coming up. No soaking, I did scarify a couple seeds absentmindedly but it didn't seem to make a difference.

Thank you both!! I planted over 100 collected seeds in my raised garden bed last Friday so I'm very hopeful that they start to pop up soon! Especially with all the rain (and snow

Any luck with your four o'clock garden, Paige?

Here are a some photos of my Colorado Four O'clock in bloom that I took this morning:

Holly

Oh I love the color of those, oakiris! I was right on one account and wrong on the other in my earlier prediction: you guys can probably figure out (since I was busy trying to get the townhome in Fort Collins ready to sell... that's a hike when you live in Arvada!) if the Jays ate all of the seeds that had fallen or if I (ahem) did (NOT) actually get any more seeds planted.

My current four o'clock garden consists of admiring my garden at 4:00! I do hope to have some for next year--the color is very different from your picture, oakiris; they're variegated white with pink or yellow or orange "bled into" the white.

lol - well, there is always next year, mayberrygardener! And thank you for the info about the 4 o'clocks you were hoping to grow - I actually had no idea that there were variegated versions of the annual 4 O'clocks - :-o - and may have to get a seed packet or two of those. I rather like some of the ones with the bit of yellow on the blooms shown on this page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/marialuisa/9301607470

Holly

Yup, that's very similar to what mine look like! I'll have to see if I can even find any of the seeds for it anymore and make sure that you get some!

My little seeds have exploded into HUGE plants....but still, at the end of July, I don't have a single blossom or bloom. I'm hoping that they will start to pop soon because they're really healthy with big green leaves. Any thoughts on how I can force them to bloom?

I could be wrong, but I think it might be a bit early for the annual 4-O'clocks to be blooming here, at least it seems to me that my annual 4'oclocks don't bloom until August - which, granted, is right around the corner.

I only have a few annual 4 o'clock left here. They were originally planted by someone who lived here before us and they only get a few hours of morning sun, so not an ideal location, but they come back reliably every year. (It's odd, actually - each plant seems to come up in the exact same location every year, as if they are perennials, they do not appear to come up randomly from seeds, but they are definitely the annual type of 4 o'clock. My plants don't have any buds on them as yet, either. Assuming that your 4'oclocks are planted in full sun, which they prefer, they might be further along than mine, but hopefully we will both see buds forming on our plants soon!

Holly