Last year was my first at growing Four O'clocks and they were wonderful ,my first question about this plant is do they survive cold winters and my next is when should I remove the winter mulch from the bed..I have 2 plants in a bed at our library garden and they are uncovered am hoping they are alive down under the soil ..If they have survived then we will expand the numbers of plants on the city owned property,for the coming season
Four O'clocks
Which color do you have?
They survive just fine here for me.
the ones from last season were all red I bougt a seed pack about 2 weeks ago with mixed colors..can remember when every yard in my world had them of course when you are a kid your world is very small LOL
They'll come back.
grits? 4o'clocks are HARD to kill, trust me.
Grits ~ in this zone they develop tubers which will overwinter. They also spread seed freely which will make for more volunteers in the next growing season.
I would wait to remove the mulch till other tender spring growth begins. I don't know that timing in your zone but I'd think if there was a good chance of hard freezes, I would wait on the uncovering.
Hope all goes well and if it doesn't I am sure we can rustle up some more seeds for you.
I faithfully picked seeds each day to insure I would have enough ..the Mayor has talked about the city putting a scenic walking trail up to the new water tank and wants me to do the landscape for it and the 4 oclocks would fit in that plan just perfect since once they began to bloom they do so until frost...If it turns out that they have a sizable budget for this then they need to hire a landscaper