Helpful Plants

  If you are ever in my garden at dusk, you will most likely be delighted by a sweet aroma that wafts around on the Bay breeze.  This scent will not be found during the daylight hours but let evening arrive and the whole garden becomes sweet scented.  The fragrance comes from the Mirabilis jalapa plants which are more commonly known as four o'clocks.  The common name is due to the blooming time of late afternoon.  It is this plant whose blooms fill the air with one of the sweetest aromas found on the Bayou.  

  While I have always loved four o'clocks and have tried to let them grow with wild abandon, I now find that the plants have more uses than just making the garden smell nice.  The blooms are used as an edible food dye.  The bright flowers have the power to add color to just about any dish.  A decoction made from the leaves can be used to topically treat wounds. (Just stay away from the seeds!  They are said to be toxic!) And the plant is now being studied for bioremediation of soils polluted with heavy metals.  It seems that the plant can purify soil that is heavily polluted.  

  With all of these good things about four o'clocks,  I do believe that I need to plant a few more!  Who knows just what is washed in with hurricane flood waters and is deposited in my yard???  If this plant can help cleanse the soil, it is nothing but a win for us!  And....the plants are already covered with the black seeds!  I shall fill the gardens with these beauties!