I believe there is still some controversy as to whether this species is a meteloides, or should still be classified seperately. From memory, the ballerina mix from Suttons includes double whites, yellows and purples.
The one I'm on about is basically a weed, wish I had some pictures but its years since I grew any to any size. You really need a large plant as the flowers only really last one night, opening at dusk, if the plant is large you then get a sucsession of flowers. Your white single Rich is definitely from that species, the lilac rim to the flower is missing. As far as I know the metel types tend to be upright, the desert types from the US are prostrate. [ 24. July 2007, 09:05 PM: Message edited by: pete ]
Just thought this was handy from a friend off another forum instead of dirt read compost. DATURA PODS & SEEDS Moon Flowers Thorn Apple-Devils Trumpet Datura a species of the nightshade family often referred to as ââ?¬Å?Moon Flowersââ?¬Â are many different plants. The Pods/Seeds can vary in shape & appearance. I am refereing to the Datura Inoxia plant. Please keep in mind that ALL parts of these plants are poisonous. No they wonââ?¬â?¢t kill you unless you are extremely stupid. If you know that you have allergies or that your skin is easily susceptible to irritation, wear gloves & long sleeves when working with the plants. These plants may contain high concentrations of alkaloids. The more sun the plant is exposed to the higher the concentration of alkaloids. The highest concentration is found in the flowers & seeds. The plants were used by South American Indians to commune with their ancestors. The alkaloids contain hallucinogens. A high exposure to these chemicals can cause death. So donââ?¬â?¢t chew the flowers, grind up the seeds and make tea, or use the stalks as toothpicks and you should probably be OK. These plants are perennial in zones 7 and above and annual in zones 6 and below. Frost, much less freezing weather, will kill them. That in no way means that you cannot have these plants in zones 6 and below. Zones 7 and above where these plants are hardy, they will grow up to 4-6 feet by 4-6 feet. In zones 6 and below where they are not hardy they can grow up to3-4 feet by 3-4 feet. The blooms are pure white about 4-6 inches across and 6-8 inches long. In most cases these blooms open at dusk, hence the name moon flower, and close and die at sunrise. There are ALWAYS exceptions to the rule. The blooms give off a lemony sweet smell that is simply a delight. In zone 6 and below where the plants are annuals and will die during fall and winter after the first frost, Make sure you collect one or two of your plants pods, That should give you about 500 seeds for the following year. This would be a precaution because if you have your plants in the ground they will reseed themselves and you will probably have more plants than you want the following year. Once these plants are established they are pretty well OK if left alone. They can survive from full sun to almost full shade, Of course the more sun the bigger the plant and the more flowers you will get. I think the best situation is to avoid early morning sun, the first 1 to 3 hours, If possible. You would need to water them up front until they have become established, Water afterwards only if you observe the plants become laggy (drooping), Water them and they recover almost immediately. Fertilize the plants about every 12 days with an all purpose fertilizer to produce many blooms continuously throughout the spring through to fall and the first frost. Seed pods are produced after the bloom dies, if the flower has been pollinated (Self pollination) the stalk leading to the flower will remain green, healthy, and may swell just a touch. The flower will either drop or almost drop off and a pod will form. This small pod will grow to maturity and if left alone will open in quarters dropping up to 250 seeds that will produce new plants the following year most of the time. After the bloom dies if the stalk leading to the bloom becomes discolored, shrivels up, dries out, and dies, obviously you have no pod coming as the flower failed to self pollinate. If you harvest the pods, allow the pods to open, carefully remove the seeds, place them on a paper towel and allow them to dry out. If the pods do not open and turn brown, Then you must open them yourself to harvest the seeds. Again, be careful of the thorns, they HURT!! Planting; Germination is about 4 days to two weeks and they will start popping their little heads up out of the dirt. You can read a million ways to do this and who is to say which is correct? Knick the seeds, Soak the seeds, yadda. Dada, dada. Here is what I do and it works 95% of the time. Get a pot and fill it with Miracle Grow potting soil, will another type of potting soil do?, probably, but I do not know as Miracle Grow is what I use. Put enough water in the pot to make the earth muddy. Try NOT to use water right from the tap, let it sit a couple days before use. Plant the seeds just under the potting soil, lay the seed on top of your mud and push just a touch of dirt over the seed so that you cannot see it. I would put one seed in a pot, eliminates problems later with transplanting, etc. As the earth starts to dry, use a sprayer to muddy the dirt again, try not to move the dirt that is on top of your seed. Continue to do this until you see the seedling brake ground. At this point cut back on the water to say every other day and do not make mud, just keep the soil moist. Too much water will cause drop off where your plants stalk for some reason will just bend over at ground level and your plant will die. Once the plant has formed its second set of leaves you can start to fertilize it with a very weak solution. Too much or too strong a solution of fertilizer will kill it. Once the plant is 4-5 inches tall transplant it into the ground or a larger pot and enjoy. Ted _________________ Ignorance is temporary.....
Rich that's a lovely huge flower, I don't think it needs to be double or tripple if it is so beautiful and I think anythin other than white would be guilding a lilly. This is Ballerina fully open and the cream one almost full, it does look very similar to yours rich. I had the same problem with the flash. walnut - if your above quote is correct and there are 500 seeds per pod I should have enough seed to pass round us all!
