Moonshadow

Oenothera acaulis var aurea

A serendipitous night to blog about our magical Yellow Moon Flowers as tonight the moon reaches perigee, the nearest point to earth in it's orbit. Also know as dandelion primrose (named for it's similar foliage) and  9 o'clock flowers (opening at approximately 9'oclock under the light of the moon) the Moon Flower unfolds in seconds before your eyes with beauty equally fleeting; unfurled blooms last only until noon of the following day before closing and withering to a pale pink. Do not be fooled by their fragile beauty.  More magical still is their nectar guide, a pollinator's runway if you will; lighting the way for moths, bees and butterflies to the flower's pollen.  These markings are invisible to the human eye without the use of ultra violet light.

Grandpa Floyd's Moon Flowers

  "Who would have thought it possible that a tiny little flower could preoccupy a person so completely that there simply wasn't room for any other thought."  

-  Sophie Scholl

 

August 2015 Moon Flower opening in Gibson Garden