Hi and welcome Cottage Fairy!
This a great group of people which you will soon(or may already have due to the "lurking") discover.
I'm a newbie poster but an old time lurker myself!
Two of my very most favorite flowers to grow are Morning Glories and Moonflowers. One year, I grew them together in the same spot. It was quite a stunning combo. Unfortunately, that was the days before digital cameras and I don't have a scanner so I can't show you pics!
I'm in ne Kansas and we are having high winds and HEAT. A cool down is coming for tomorrow before it soars right back up into the high 80's and 90's. Just not ready for it yet, but as usual, it doesn't make much difference since old Ma Nature is going to do her thing regardless! LOL!
There are some fabulous gardens here to draw inspiration from as you already know and their owners freely give advice.
Look forward to reading more posts from you!
Stephanie

Hello Cottage Fairy!
I grew Moon flowers at my other house...I didn't get a lot of blooms because I think the spot I planted them in didn't get enough sun. But they were so pretty. Morning glories are a staple for me in the garden. This year I'm growing blue heaven, grandpa ott, crimson rambler and scarlet all on the same trellis! I can't wait!

This is a great place. You'll love it.

Estelle

Hello and welcome! I have some moonflowers now in a container with bamboo. I started them from seed in winter. Their doing great & have lots of buds already. I can't wait to see the first flower! I'm in NC about 2 minutes from SC.

Thanks for the wonderful welcome, everyone. I also adore morning glories. I think moonflower is simply magical and the first year I grew them I grabbed a glass of sweet tea, promptly planted a chair underneath the arch and waited for one to open and release that heavenly aroma! LOL!! My next door neighbor at the time was not a gardener and she particularly hated cottage gardens. We live in a smaller late 1800's Victorian home and most all the houses in the neighborhood were built before 1930. Anyway, the neighbor thought Cottage Gardens were too wild and unkept :-(....Oh well...She stepped out on her deck and asked me what I was doing and without even hesitating I boldy answered, " I'm watching my first Moonflower bloom!" Well, needless to say she thought I was insane and shook her head and walked back indoors. I'm so glad I found this site! What a wonderful community.

Welcome to this fantastic forum Cottage Fairy. Moonflowers are such lovely cottage flowers and their scent is really sweet. I've got some seeds I need to plant. Have several morning glories blooming right now.

Happy Gardening ~ FlowerLady

Hmmmm...I feel so deprived. I've never seen or grown a moonflower. I wonder if it's too late this year. Hmmm...

And welcome to the forum. I'm a newbie myself, but I find the posters here to be very accepting and encouraging. I know you will have same experience. :)

My problem with moonflowers when I planted them is that they didn't bloom til very late in the season, I'm remembering Octoberish. I'm in south certral KY. They did reseed themselves for a couple of years & flowered much earlier then. They didn't return after 3 years, I keep meaning to start some more, but forget until it seems too late.

Hi Cottage Fairy. I enjoy cottage gardening somewhat vicariously here. I can't grow the typical cottage garden plants, because of our heat & humidity, but I'm learning from some of the southern gardeners about plants I'd never heard of.

Bamateacha, moonflowers are really neat, because they open up late afternoon and fill the evening air with their sweet scent. They're very striking in the moonlight. They also open in a matter of minutes. None of mine are blooming yet. In fact I just saw a new baby pop up the other day. It's worth a try. You might be able to find transplants at a nursery.

Here is a link that might be useful: a few pics from years past

Thanks for the link natal. I must say the flower is pretty even when closed up in that bud.

Is it a climber? How much room will it need? Is it a heavy spreader? I'm going to try to locate some transplant to try. It sounds heavenly!

Welcome to the Cottage! I'm so glad you came out of lurkdom. : ) I'm not anywhere near you but I've visited your lovely state and my dad was born in Marion.

Good luck with your moonflowers and just ignore the neighbor lady. She'll come around when she sees what a lovely cottage garden you create.

Diana

Welcome Cottage Fairy! I don't have moonflowers or morning glories though I love them so. My DH is so freaked out about my flowers spreading into the feilds and pastures so I have to be really careful of what I plant. I'll just have to be content with others pictures of those plants. Thanks for the link Natal! Have you seen the pic of Heavenly Blues that Gottagarden had on an arch in her former garden? TDF!!!

MeMo

Welcome, Cottage Fairy! I'm relatively new here, myself, and my garden is definitely in the progress stage! (Moved last fall...)

We planted morning glories for the first time last year, and the kids loved them, so I planted some under our new cherry tree. No seedlings yet, but I only did it recently.

What I'm now wondering is, are morning glories and moonflowers ever both open at the same time, or do you get one and then the other? That was the thing I didn't like about the morning glories - by the time I got home from work, they were closed! I really only got to appreciate them on the weekend, alas. (Same with my blue flax, which is part of why I'm not planting it at the new house, btw.) So, I like the idea of evening blooming flowers...

(This is also part of why I planted so many white flowers in my new border, which is pretty far from the house - I'm hoping I'll be able to see them from inside in the evening!)

Oh...I bet moonflowers blooming around a Victorian home is gorgeous.

Anyone who grabs a glass of sweet tea and a chair, then awaits a bloom is a cottage gardener personified!! Trust me, we all understand and I (and many others, I'm sure)would join you outside under that arbor awaiting a bloom if we lived nearby. :-)

Welcome!

Marilyn

Welcome to the cottage! So glad you crept out of the darkness to introduce yourself.

Everyone here is super friendly and some of these guys and gals post the most amazing photos! We are photo hungry here, so feel free to post your gardens when you get a chance.

I love moonflowers! Only wish they were perennial here.

Tracy

Hi Cottage Fairy, I'm new here too, I fact I'm new to the Garden Web. I started out lurking on different forums thinking to myself this is great, here's the place to find the answers to all my questions. I found Cottage Garden one evening and started to read all the posts. It was love at first sight. In my haste to join in, I didn't introduce myself to the forum, I just jumped in with both feet, probably raised a few eyebrows but this such a great group, they just accepted me for who I am. I think of all as family. So Welcome.
Up where I live moonflowers are a challenge for me, the only way I can grow and get them to bloom is in the greenhouse. The year I did grow them they didn't open up till midnight, so to enjoy them I had go out to the greenhouse in the wee hours with a cup of coffee, sit in the dark, sip my coffee and enjoy their scent. Crazy lady, yes I am.

Annette

Welcome from Indiana. This is a great and addicting place with lots of great ideas and experience too. Jump in feet first and post away...don't be shy!

Welcome aboard. Everyone here is just as crazy as you "claim" to be.

Wow! I have never seen them either. Hmmm.....

I remember when I was in HS, my neighbor came and got me to go watch her nigt blooning cereus open. My younger brother thought we were crazy.

Hey Cottage Fairy, I like the handle, and it is great to have you come aboard!!

GGG

Thanks again for the warm welcome. It's funny how non-gardeners really think we're a bit insane to be as passionate about gardening as we are.

For those of you who haven't grown moonflower, another thing they do is attract sphinx moth (we call them hummingbird moths here). One year I had one of these moths fluttering back and forth from the moonflower vine to the evening primrose.It was a spectacular sight. I need to find some of the last pictures I took of the arbor when it was loaded with moonflower and post them. I will often go out on the front porch on summer evenings just to see the white blooms glowing in the moonlight and get a nice whiff of that fragrance. Heavenly!

Welcome Cottage Fairy! Glad you posted.
We have a very nice conversation forum too. Join in!

PattiOh

A hearty welcome to you Cottage Fairy. I'm Steven and I'm pleased to meet you. I can see that you are no toe in the water kinda gal. More a jump right in and start swimming lady. Good on you! I can't wait to see your pictures.

Steven

p.s. Kentucky has a special place in my heart. My father's parents were from Kentucky. I may have been born an Illinois Yankee, but I ate like a southerner ;-)