I love four O'Clocks and have been growing them for years. They are easy flowers, do volunteer all over the place but are really easy to pull out if you don't want them there. I don't have any pictures. Will have to take some when they bloom this year but mine are small yet, not near ready to bloom.

I grow them...
and I know of a few others on here who grow them too. Their fragrance is superb! I have mine by the back door in the patio bed so I can enjoy their fragrance and colors in the evening when I sit out. I also have them over by the entrance into my Rose Garden, mingled with Black-eyed Susans.

I used to grow the old-fashions (multi-colors) down in the orchard under the pear trees. They have the strongest fragrance of any of them and I LOVED their rainbow of color all on one plant. I cannot find that variety to start them again.
Here's two pics of mine:

Bright pink 4 O'clock with salmon edges & gold highlights
Here they mingle with Old-fashioned Garden Phlox and Morning Glories by the patio.

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4 O'clocks and Garden Phlox

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I have lots of photos of them in my garden with other flowers. How many do you want to see? :)

~Annie

I've been looking for some that are genuinely wonderfully fragrant. When I was a child, my older sister had a long bed of them alongside their front steps. For weeks that summer we'd all sit out on the steps in the evening and watch their kittens disappear into and ambush each other from the four o'clocks. Great fun, but that exquisite fragrance is why I need a bedful at our new home.

I used to grow them as well - I always said they were a great working woman's flower - open when you come home to enjoy the garden. So much of garden time is spent in that 4-8PM range anyway.

I am going to plant them next year again - lovely photos!

I can't smell my 4 o'clocks! I think it's because of my allergies. lol.

Annie, this year I threw in a packet from Walmart (they sold out quickly) of the multi-colored flowers. They're mixed with the others so I hope the new colors didn't get strangeled out. They should be blooming in a week or so. Right now the plants are lush with leaves.

Of course I'd love to see more pictures!

I grow them some years, a dependable annual. The last ones I grew were yellow with white, very pretty but they got a little taller than I expected. Planted them behind the Heavenly Blue MGs.

I like this one, but must remain diligent at pulling up seedlings or they will spread everywhere.
Jim

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I love them because they are usually in such psychedelic colors. You must be diligent taking off the seed here in small areas. I have a small patch of white (and many seedlings potted up) and also the ones pictured above which are dazzling!
A single red also came up from seeds planted in the spring.

I find the scent refreshing!

My mom still grows them, but they did so much better, when we lived in Arkansas. I think they like the warm weather and humidity. We had the white ones and I remember they had a wonderful fragrance. I was about six years old and it's one of the only flowers I remember from that garden. :)

Purple Hyacinth Bean flowers - 4 O'clocks, Morning Glories, and Old-fashioned Garden Phlox in background - Sept. 2009

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Tiger Orange Zinnia with Pink 4 O'clocks - that's Cypress vine covering the arbor behind them, but the red flowers were closed when I snapped this image.

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4 O'clocks with Yellow Cannas

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Last one

Close-up of pink 4'O'clock flower w/Morning glory gone to sleep for the day

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That is just an example of how much I mix them into my Cottage Garden.

Mine are about 2 feet tall now, but not flowering yet. Like Morning Glories, Phlox, Coneflowers, Sunflowers, Marigolds, and Zinnias, they put on their best flowering in September - the days then are hot and dry, but the wee morning hours and nights have that feel and smell of Autumn in the air - at least here in Oklahoma (The Morning Glory is September's flower).

I like the HOT color combinations in summer - Hot pinks, Sumptuous oranges, Glowing sunny lemon or mustard yellows, BOLD reds and Vibrant, even Iridescent blues, purples and greens, and always the Dazzling whites. Then I make myself a pitcher of Margaritas and sit in the shade to watch the clouds float bye while the birds serenade me from the trees overhead. Honey bees, Dragonflies, Hummingbirds, and Butterflies fill the garden air with color and a soft buzzing sound...and I just take it all in! It was worth all the hard work and struggle from spring thru' summer just for that one, single, sweet moment. Aaaah!

~Annie

Nice pictures..I love pink ones..I agree..they are under rated...but big performers. The only think I suggest is that when you plant them you be sure to plant them somewhere you walk or see in the afternoon. Otherwise you will miss the show...and when they are not blooming (early morning ect) they look weedy..put em where you walk or view late afternoons.

Oh! I gotta find that yellow and red variety! That is gorgeous!

Looking at all the images, I swear I can smell their fragrances. Me and my vivid imagination!

Thanks for this post, Pam.

~Annie

Jim,
Does your yellow/pink 4 o'clock have a particular name? It's gorgeous and I'd like to try to find it.

Thanks.

Merindah, the lady that I got this Four o'clock from, just called it a bi-color four o'clock and said that she had ordered the seeds from Australia.
Jim

Wow. My four o'clocks did so well one year I was in love. The following years they got heavy with blooms.... thant never opened... or opened at two in the morning and I never knew. So I quietly collected the seeds and put them away. This year I am trying them again. We'll see...if mine promise to open but never do... at least I'll have these pictures.

Annie, yes September is Morning Glory month! Glorious because kids go back to school, the house is quiet and morning glories smile at me reassuringly that... the kids will be fine for the rest of the semester.

Thanks Jim. I am Australian so that's a nice coincidence.

Thanks again.

I think I found something new to plant! Thanks for the photos, everyone.

Keesha, plant them on the east side of your house, so they will be in the shade in the late afternoon, then you will get to see and smell them before sunset.
~Annie

I know I have more pictures than this, but I grow them with Datura and nicotiana.

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My fragrant bed near the side door is getting huge. I scattered four oclocks, datura, nicotiana, and petunia seeds earlier in the spring. Everything is loving the rain.

Jim, I will definitely be searching for those seeds! They have to be the prettiest colors I've ever seen.

I've had all pink for about 15 years now, so I'm really excited to see if my multi-colored seeds open since they're planted with the pink one's.

Yes, east side of the house is the best spot for them. Although we had a lot come up on the south side where a big tree is and they get filtered sun and seem to be doing okay.

The best thing about these plants? They don't need fertilizing or any coddling. Just water.

Oh my, look at the 4 o'clock seeds that Burpee is selling.

If I ordered them now while they're in stock, would they still be good to plant for next year?

Here is a link that might be useful: Colors!

Forgot to add, it says to plant these in full sun. Which means I have more areas to plant them in besides the east side of the house!

I plant old 4 o'clock seeds and they come up just fine. They do just fine in partial shade, the plants just don't get as big as they do in full sun.

I planted four oclocks every year but took this year off just for something a little different. I grew them in part sun and they bloomed great. They didn't open until 7pm most of the time, not 4pm. I'm sure I will grow them again, they were quite fragrant at night.

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Prairiemoon, I am in love with the yellow and pink mixture!

Rita, so you think these plants do better in full sun? I've never grown them in full sun, just morning sun.

I'm going to go ahead and order those seeds!

I planted some for the first time last year and loved them. My moms neighbor had some purple ones and gave me one to smell and oh the smell like jasmine. So she gave me several seeds. Man though do they produce seed! I was giving away envelopes full of seeds and still had a bag left from only one plant! I have to be careful though because I heard they're poisonous and I'm afraid my chickens will eat them. Are they poisonous? This spring I planted several on my new rose bed away from the chickens but I still have one plant that they could still get too.
~Meghan

Your pictures are so pretty. We lived at a house that had 4 o'clocks when I was a kid. I loved those flowers. I'll have to find some to plant here.

Susie

All these pictures of 4 O'Clocks are so pretty. I have grown them for years and years. The mixed pink/yellow/white are available from Park Seed Company and are called 'Broken Colors'. I have had them for the past 4 years and they reseed true. 4 O'clocks belong in every cottage garden :) .....

Lynne

Oakleyok, my four o'clocks are right out in the blazing, zone 9, Texas sun, but the whole garden is irrigated, so they never see drought.
Jim

Yes, mine were 'Broken Colors' . My favorite variety. I've started them from seed in spring. Very easy.

Oh my gosh, I love the two toned. Do you save the seeds? If so you should share..

The plants get bigger in full sun but believe me they get big enough with part shade. I would plant them were you want them and were they would look best and not worry about full sun or part sun. They do just fine either way.

I planted 4 O Clocks in two locations this year, both part sun. Its too early for blooms yet but they are doing great, growing away.

This year is first time that I am growing 4'oclock's from seed. I have
4 plants. One is in my front patio in a big pot, it happens to be a white
one. I haven't smelled the fragrance yet. The other 3 in back yard are
still small, but one has flowers that have not opened yet. The variety
is Marvel of Peru. I like those bi-colored ones, will order those next
year.

I grew them from seed easily in my first garden, part shade, under my living room window they did great. Ive never seen them since but I foudn a pack at a nursery this spring and im waiting for them to open! Love all the bi colors! Ill look for those next year!

Yes, I do collect the seed. The seed are large and the plant keeps producing flowers and as each flower turns to seed, the plant is continually producing seed unless you are deadheading. As the season continues, the seed can start dropping. In some areas this plant can become a pest because of the seeds dropping and because I believe the plant produces some type of tuber. I have not planted it in the ground because of that, but have always planted it in containers. I don't think it is much of a problem in my zone because I don't think they are hardy to zone 6, but in the warmer zones, I believe they do survive the winter and can become a pest.

Very easy to start from seed, to collect seed, and start them for containers every year.

The tubers do not overwinter here in the north. They just come up from the dropped seed. The volunterrs are VERY easily pulled out, no big deal. Just weed them out were you don't want them. Don't be afraid to put those four o'clocks inground. They are a great plant.

Prairiemoon, you really ought to try planting them in the ground next Spring. By July they'll be in full bloom!

Also, I'm in Z 7 and we get some pretty harsh winters here with subfreezing temps for a week at a time. We always get ice storms and a blanket of hard ice on all my plants that last a good week if there's no sun on the area. My 4 o'clocks come up like clockwork. Pun intended!

This is the only way you can tell if you'll get some the following year.

Thanks oakleyok for that suggestion. I'm actually not wanting to have them come back for me. [g] I would rather use them as an annual. I think you are right though, at some point, the only way to know whether they would be perennial for me, would be to try them in the ground.