Marvel of Peru

 

Note from the Author: Forgot to get this posted last week.

 

 

The most commonly available variety of Marvel of Peru that you will find in plant or seed form is the pink one, but it comes in other colors.

Note that this specimen has heart shaped leaves that are a bit elongated.

In the evening the flowers are very aromatic making this plant a fine evening scented addition to your garden.

Common Name: Marvel of Peru

 

Other Common Names: Four o’Clocks

 

Botanical Family: Nyctaginaceae (The Four o’Clock Family)

 

Botanical Latin Name: Mirabilis jalapa

 

Description & Habitat: 

          Marvel of Peru has a very distinct look to it; the plant’s stems have large joints that can be pretty pronounced towards the base of the plant. The leaves of Marvel of Peru are best described as having a simple margin, with an opposite arrangement and can range in shape from elliptical to heart-shaped in some specimens. The flowers of this plant are a simple tube shape with five petals and are typically pink, white or yellow. The Broken Colors variety of Marvel of Peru thanks to a virus can be all three of the aforementioned colors in a given flower at once. Marvel-of Peru seeds are fairly large, easy to handle and turn black when ripe making it easy to avoid harvesting unripe seed. The seed are found in a cup-like structure formed from the calyx of the flowers. In Zone 8 and 9, this plant is an herbaceous perennial that comes back from a tuber.  No part of this plant is noted to be edible by credible sources however; some unverified ones suggest it has medicinal qualities.

 

Special Toxicity Note:  

Marvel of Peru is noted in numerous credible references to be completely toxic, some blogs suggest you can eat the flowers but I do not recommend this.

 

When & What to Harvest:

This plant is not edible.

 

Related Plants:

While there are other plants in the family, and certainly others you can grow I have to note there are a number of seeds sold online as Four o’Clocks with odd colored flowers such as blue shades that are scams.

 

Recipe:

          Given that this plant contains toxic compounds I do not recommend using it as a medicine or in culinary preparations.

 

 

Additional Information: (If applicable)

https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/mirabilis-jalapa/

 

 

Where to get Seed or Bare Root Plants:

https://www.southernexposure.com/products/four-o-clocks-marvel-of-peru/

 

With all that garden goodness covered this is the part of the blog where I have to advertise for the Fayetteville City Market. Now I know you readers probably don’t much like advertisements, but my booth at the City Market helps to cover the costs of running the test garden and literally maintains the Research & Development budget that is used to bring you the information that has made up the backbone of this blog.  In addition to being able to process card payments we now take CashApp payments so your payment options for my product have tripled. With that said; if you want to get some GMO-free, Organic fruit, herbs, flowers and perennials, come on down to the Fayetteville City Market on 325 Maxwell Street in downtown Fayetteville between the hours of 9:00 am and 1:00 pm on Saturdays. Even in bad weather the market goes on though you might have to look for me under the ‘arches’ of the Transportation Museum’s front entryway.

 

Fresh Foods

Fig Leaf Tea, 8oz

[Soup Kits and Vegetables coming soon]

 

Fall Plants

Brussels Sprouts

Collards

Corn Salad / Mache

Kale, Dinosaur

Kale, Ragged Jack

Kale, Rubybor

Kale, Scotch Blue

Lettuce, Buttercrunch (100% Cyclosporia free!)

Sorrel, Raspberry Dressing

 

Garden Supply

Live Mushroom Compost, 1 Gallon

Live Mushroom Compost, 3 Gallon

 

 

How to stay in Contact with Us!

All you need to keep up with all our activities is to have a Nextdoor account and to look for the ‘Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’ group and ask to join! You don’t have to live in Fayetteville to join us! Feel free to ask all your garden questions of our knowledgeable membership and post your cool garden pictures.

 

Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville

 

Also please take a gander at the YouTube version of this blog:

The Videos: Look Here

>Newest videos (1): Culantro

 

With all of the updates, blog posts, community announcements and the main topic handled remember that Sustainable Neighbors of Fayetteville’s meetings are still going on! Our next (unofficial) meeting is September 26^th at the Fayetteville City Market at 325 Franklin Street between 9:00 am and 1:00 pm, or at North South Brewing on the same day between 1:00 and 5:00pm.