Lady of the night (flowers, cricket, jasmine, spring)

[cricketfan]

Is anyone familiar with this flowering plant (probably in the jasmine family)known as "lady of the night" also "brunfelsia americana"? As the name suggests, it gives off a fragrance only between the hours of dusk and dawn. During the day there is zero fragrance. I have seen one huge plant here in northeast Florida which tells me that it would probably thrive in my garden even though we do have seasonal temperatures here. Any and all information would be appreciated from those who are familiar with it. Also if you know of any nurseries that carry it since I would like to include it in my Spring lineup.

[ScrappyNana]

cricketfan,
You've got the name right (looks like). Lady of the Night is just one of the few thousand plants of the Nighshade family. It is from South America if I remember correctly. It doesn't like temps to drop below 30-F but being in north florida, you could cover it up during those cold nights we have.
I'm pretty sure I've seen them in the plant section at Wal-Mart. You can order seeds/plants online from several FL nurseries.
This is a guess...if you know someone that will let you have a cutting, it would be worth trying to root it. Looks to me like it would be easy enough??? But then, I try to root anything and everything. Maybe someone with more experience will know.

[riveree]

I have 2 similar plants here in NEFL:

Datura: Also a night-bloomer.....smells kind of stinky by day, but once the sun starts to go down it smells yummy! I bought 2 of them at Lowes (or was it Home Depot? ) on clearance. Now I have some little babies from the seeds, so I have a few more started. They need SUN.....I had one in a bit of shade and it died . So SUN and MOISTURE are important. Oh, and they are deadly poisonous if ingested .

Angel's Trumpet: I've had some trouble with this one. Our very own Karla with a K gave me some cuttings and they rooted pretty easily, but they are very moisture-sensitive and I am having a mite problem with them. I use Safer on them, but so far, I can only get rid of the mites temporarily...they much all the leaves down so the plants aren't really getting anywhere. Angel's Trumpet is also a poisonous plant.


Putting you Lady in the Night into a container might help when we get cold snaps (easier to move into the garage).

[plantlover]

Lady of the night might be Brunfelsia americana or Brunfelsia nitida. Both produce flowers which are fragrant at night. The angel's trumpets, Brugmansia spp. also have flowers which are fragrant at night. These flowers are huge, and may be orange, white, or pink and hang down.

[the one]

for a second i thought you were reffering to a plant we call "reina de la noche" or queen of the night. it is a cactus flower that blooms at night, emits the most wonderful scent and is dead by day light. sadly only lasts one night... wow, upon a quick google search, i found that this flower of mine is the "Epiphyllum oxypetalum". sorry im of no help to you, but those flowers do look rather nice

[cricketfan]

Originally Posted by plantlover

Lady of the night might be Brunfelsia americana or Brunfelsia nitida. Both produce flowers which are fragrant at night. The angel's trumpets, Brugmansia spp. also have flowers which are fragrant at night. These flowers are huge, and may be orange, white, or pink and hang down.

You're absolutely right. I did some research and the plant in my OP is indeed Brunfelsia americana. Unfortunately I haven't found a nursery anywhere within driving distance that has it. There is a mail-order nursery in Houston that will ship the pots although I would prefer seeds. Anyway I am determined to get my hands on this "lady of the night" and once I do I will share the source with everyone that responded to my OP. Thanks.

[BlueWillowPlate]

The blossoms look a lot like the nicotiana (tobacco plant) I used to grow.
That too had a night fragrance.

[the one]

oooh the tobacco plant smells so nice also. they look like the flower in the pic, so lovely. one year a whole bunch sprouted in my garden and i had no idea what they were. a bunch of pink ones. upon closer inspection i caught a wiff of their scent! really nice. but now they are mostly gone. i loved watching them revive as the sun went down. plants are great like that.