Night-blooming flowers

Blossom wonders by moonlight

Enjoy balmy summer nights by moonlight - the pleasant temperatures are a real invitation! If you want to enjoy the plants in your garden or on your balcony in the evening or at night, you should get yourself some beautiful night bloomers. Many of them not only reflect the moonlight, but also exude a pleasant fragrance!

Nocturnal flowers?

Practical if you work during the day and can only enjoy your garden or balcony in the evening. It's important to know that plant colours change as darkness falls and sunlight fades: Greens, blues and reds are the first to disappear into the shadows of night, while bright flowers only now really reflect the pale light and thus become eye-catching.

In the narrower definition, night bloomers are plant species whose flowers only open at night or provide nectar and release fragrances at night. There is a simple reason for the link between nocturnal flowering and specific fragrance: if the flowers only open in the evening, nocturnal insects must be attracted - most of them are pollinated by moths. Plants with light-coloured petals are suitable for creating a beautiful ambience in the garden or on the balcony. Thanks to numerous new varieties and crosses, almost all popular balcony flowers are also available in light colours. So for cosy seating areas, ideally choose flowers that form lots of small white or cream-coloured blossoms, reflecting the last rays of sunlight and the pale moonlight for a long time. It looks particularly pretty when evening primroses, night phlox or ornamental tobacco, for example, are planted along the garden path to show the way with their bright flowers.

Beguiling angel's trumpet

One of the plants with the most intense scent at night is the angel's trumpet (Brugmansia). Planted in a tub, it can be positioned flexibly as desired and then emits its evening fragrance on the spot - with a vanilla or lemon flavour, depending on the variety. Originally from South America, this ornamental plant is a heavy feeder and therefore needs to be fertilised regularly to ensure it receives sufficient nutrients. Due to its large, soft leaves and numerous flowers, the angel's trumpet also needs a lot of water. It is therefore essential, especially on hot summer days, to give it plenty of water regularly while allowing it to drain naturally - for example through a hole in the pot or a layer of three layers. To ensure that the roots always have enough space, the plant should also be repotted annually in a larger container. Angel trumpets prefer a sunny spot, but one where they are protected from the hot midday sun. Tall trees or alternatively a parasol or awning are suitable for providing shade. The plants can grow up to five metres high after a few years. It is therefore important that you choose a sheltered spot and a sufficiently large planter that is also particularly stable to prevent it from tipping over. If you wish, you can also place the fragrant plant in an open bed over the summer to ensure a more even water supply. However, the plant will then have to spend the cold winter in a pot in a sheltered indoor area.

Colourful wonder flower

"Nomen est omen" applies to the miracle flower (Mirabilis jalapa) in more ways than one. The magic of this plant cannot even be guessed at in daylight: The flowers hang limply from the plant, looking almost wilted. As night falls, however, the miracle flower reveals its full effect - making it one of the most important night bloomers. The flowers begin to open in the late afternoon and then attract numerous moths as pollinators with their scent in the evening. But that's not all: this easy-care wonder flower owes its name primarily to its flowers, as different coloured petals can form on one stem. This phenomenon, which is extremely rare in nature, makes the wonder flower not only an extraordinary night-scented plant, but also a particularly popular ornamental flower for bedding or container planting. It can grow up to two metres high and produces fragrant flowers between July and October. Like the angel's trumpet, the wonder flower thrives best in a sunny, sheltered location and needs to be watered and fertilised regularly.

The queen of the night

A true diva among the night bloomers is the "Queen of the Night" (Selenicereus grandiflorus): In this country, it usually opens its impressive flowers on a July night and usually only presents them for one day - after which they begin to wilt again. As a garden owner, you naturally pay all the more attention to it and get excited from the moment the first flowers appear until the big event. Over the years, the cactus develops snake-like, thorny shoots that can grow several metres long. It is not uncommon for it to present its owners with up to 20 radial flowers at the same time. Each one can grow up to 30 centimetres long and reach the same diameter. The outer petals are yellow to brownish in colour and narrow, while the inner petals are white and broader. When they are open, they exude a beguiling vanilla scent.

In the wild, the cactus plant is found in the dry forests of Mexico - a habitat that offers very high temperatures and plenty of sunlight during the day. Under these conditions, the delicate, large queen flowers would be exposed to high levels of evaporation, causing the plant to lose more water than is available to it in its dry habitat. This is why it only blooms at night for such a short time, giving nocturnal butterflies the opportunity to pollinate. Incidentally, the farmer's cactus (Echinopsis) is also often referred to as the "queen of the night" because it exhibits similar flowering behaviour. However, its flowers are pale pink and funnel-shaped.